A Fed Up Author
by Short Moose
Summary: Okay, this is a story my friend and her sister made up when they were bored. They told it to me, wanted me to write it down, and I did it as their Easter preset. I don't own any songs or CSI. This turned out to be more than a oneshot. ShortMoose
1. Chapter 1

Greg Sanders was walking down the hallway towards the locker room. He had just finished up a big case and he was really excited. Also, Carly, his friend from New York just moved into town, and she just joined the team. Man, he was the happiest guy in the world. When he got into his locker, he pulled out his ipod, and started to sing as he headed out.

_I'm bringing sexy back,_

_Them other boys don't know how to act_

_I think you're special whats behind your background_

_So turn around and I'll pick up the slack_

_Take em' to the bridge_

Before he knew it, Grissom was standing in his way. Greg took out his studs from his ear.

"Greg," Grissom said with his straightest and most serious voice. "I'm bringing sexy back."

"No, Grissom, I totally am! I mean, I'm Greg. I'm just pure sexiness." He smiled broadly as Sara, Carly, Maryellen, and Catherine came down the hallway.

"Greg, Greg, Greg," Sara shook her head. "You're not sexy."

"Oh common, Sara, you know you want somma this." he winked at her. "And besides, I'm bringing sexy back."

"Greg, you've got it backwards," Warrick said as he came out of the AV lab and put his arm around Catherine. "_I'm_ bringing sexy back." He grinned.

"Oh no, no Warrick, _you're_ the one that's got it backwards, because _I'm_ bringing sexy back." Nick said, stepping out from behind Warrick. "Ain't that right, Maryellen?" he reached over and snaked his arm around her waist.

"Always, Nicky." She cooed as she pecked him on the lips.

"Common, Maryellen, you know I'm sexy." Greg said, huskily, making everyone (including the author) laugh.

"No Greg, you're really not!" She said.

"Oh," Carly said, standing next to Greg with a small pout on her face. "I happen to think my Greggo is much sexier than Nick." she kissed a spot on Greg's neck, and he shivered.

"Well, Warrick is much hotter and sexier than both Greg and Nick combined." Cathrine said, smiling up at Warrick.

"Yes, well, Grissom-" Sara started, but I interrupted her.

"Dudsies!" I shouted from my little writing corner up above. I let down a ladder, and started to climb down. When I had put my feet on the floor, I started shouting. "Will you please stop frickin' comparing which of your frickin' boyfriends is sexier than the frickin' other! It is giving me a frickin' migraine!" They were all in shock that I had just blown up like that. I took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. After a few minutes of quiet time, Sara murmured, "But Grissom is sexier..."

"GAR!!!" I shouted again. I turned on my heel and yelled back to them, "Y'ALL SICK MAN!" and I stalked out, not even bothering to continue writing this.

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Well, there you have it Big Momma, yours and Carly's story. I know that I'm not the next J.K Rowling, but, I tried.

HAPPY EASTER!!!


	2. Chapter 2

A while later, the author decided to continue this story.

Greg Sanders was almost dancing in the hallway about two months later. He was so excited about today. Because today was the day he was going to propose to Carly. 'Man,' he thought. 'I swear that I could jump a thousand feet in the air today.' He put his ear buds in, and turned on his ipod. Immediately, _Sexy Back _started to play, but he changed it. Since it was on shuffle, it went to _Dirty Little Secret_ by AAR. Since he knew the song frontwards and backwards, he started to sing.

_Let me know that I've done wrong_

_When I've known this all along_

_I go around a time or two_

_Just to waste my time with you_

_Tell me all that you've thrown away_

_Find out games you don't wanna play_

_You are the only one that needs to know_

_I'll keep you my dirty little secret_

_(Dirty little secret)_

_Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret_

_(Just another regret, hope that you can keep it)_

_My dirty little secret...Who has to know?_

Without looking where he was going, he bumped into the break room door jam. It took him a second to process what happened, but eventually he yelled, "GAAA!!!!"

"Nice job, Greggo," Nick said as he passed him into the break room, sitting down to wait for assignments.

When Greg walked in, he had a thick red line running down his face. Everyone started to laugh hysterically. "Keep laughing," he said as he went to sit down by Carly.

Grissom came in a couple minutes later. "Well guys, Vegas is finally asleep tonight. So, everyone has a break." He gave a slight nod to Nick, and sat down next to Sara.

Nick stood up, and pulled Maryellen up onto her feet. They stood in front of us, and had huge smiles on their faces. "Guys," Nick started. "We have some big news." He looked at Maryellen and his grin got bigger.

"Let me guess," Greg said, "Nick's pregnant." Carly rolled her eyes.

"No Greg," Maryellen said, rolling her eyes just like her sister did. "We're getting married!" And almost at once, like a switch had just been turned on, everyone had gotten up to go and congratulate the new couple.

Warrick asked, "So, why'd you choose Nick?"

"Because he's the sexiest one of them all." She smiled.

"We've been through this," Catherine said. "Warrick is much sexier than Nick."

Sara sighed, "Guys, Grissom-"

"Hey, Peeps!" I shouted from my little corner. I let down my ladder, and climbed down. I turned to yell at them, again. "What did I tell you before?" I yelled.

In unison, they said, "That we're not allowed to talk about anyone's sexiness."

"Good, now, stop talking about which of your frickin' boyfriends is the frickin' sexiest!" I stalked away.

_----------_

Greg was in the locker room. He pulled the ring out from his pocket. "I'll keep you my dirty little secret." he sang. He shut his locker with the ring in it, and started to head out. When he passed Nick and Maryellen on the way out, he whispered, "I'm much sexier."

"GREG!" I yelled from my ladder. "You're giving me a frickin' migraine."

"Sorry," he said, with this pout on his face. "I just can't help it."

"Y'all sick man, y'all sick." I shook my head and went back into my solitary corner.


	3. Chapter 3

'Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit,' Greg thought as he was hiding behind a trash can a year later. Things had been going well these past few months. Carly and him were getting into a more serious relationship, if you know what I mean...just kidding. Warrick and Catherine had eloped. Nick and Maryellen were doing just fine, even better when they got back from their honeymoon...wink wink. But, things were rocky for Sara and Grissom. Lady Heather had showed up at his house and Grissom took her back in an instant. So, Sara was alone, Gris was screwing Lady Heather, Warrick played pater for Lindsay, and Maryellen and pregnant Nick were expecting **his** child any day.

Greg looked from his hiding place to where the main shooting was. The gang was on a special case, and these kids (18-19 year olds) came up and started shooting. Thank goodness everyone moved quickly enough not to get hurt. The only problem was that Greg had gone farther than the rest. And he was scared. He didn't want to get shot. All of a sudden, he heard a masculine scream. Nick. Shit, Maryellen was going to kill him. He quickly turned around to retaliate. He kept shooting until they started to shoot back at him.

"We gonna get you nigga!" The kids shouted and quickly ran to get me, but Greg was quicker. He jumped on the trash can and dodged their bullets all Matrix style. He landed and ran as fast as he could and slid behind a barrel where Nick was.

"Hey Nick, you okay?" Greg said breathlessly. Nick smiled as he lay on the ground.

"Eh, I'll survive." He showed Greg his arm where red liquid had splattered. And out of nowhere, Greg's mind wandered into an oldies song.

_Did you think I'd crumble?  
Did you think I'd lay down and die?  
Oh no not I, I will survive  
For as long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive  
I've got all my life to live  
And I've got all my love to give  
I'll survive  
I will survive  
Hey hey_

Greg chuckled. Nick cocked his head in question, but Greg just shrugged him off.

"Go get them for me." Nick said, and Greg happily obliged.Greg looked up, everyone was out of site, except for the kids. They were stalking everyone out. Greg looked over at the edge of the barrel when they weren't looking his way. He saw Carly doing the same thing. With his eyes, they communticated, and planned a double team on those stupid kids.

The kids weren't paying attention to either of them when they striked. First, Carly had shot above their head from behind, one for every kid, 5. Then, Greg shot the same spot when they were going after Carly. Then, they both attacked at the same time, only this time was different. Instead of missing them on purpose, they actually shot them.

But alas, Carly accidently shot an extra bullet after the kids fell, and it hit Greg square in the heart. He was flung against the wall and he slid down as red spilled down his chest. He didn't have enough time to register what had happened before he was shot. Thank God this was only paintball.

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Only two hours after Greg was shot, Carly had left. She was heading for Montana to start over. No one knew why. A year after she had moved there, she married a man named Tyler Schmidt. Over time, they had three kids: John, Jacob, and Jingleheimer. Gradually, she had forgotten all about Greg, Las Vegas, and even Maryellen.


	4. Chapter 4

Since I don't have a bed up in my solitary corner, I have to rest anywhere I can find like on the locker room bench where I was now. I was so close to sleep, but someone's crying stopped me. Along with the crying, the person was hitting a locker. I slowly opened my eyes to find Greg. His eyes were red and puffy, so, I got up to comfort him. I took my blanket with me like a child would when their scared of a thunder storm and wants to sleep with their parents. As I approached him, he had gotten angrier.

"Greg?" I said softly, just getting his sttention. "What's wrong?"

He looked at me like I was crazy, "Carly's gone,"

"What?" I was totally confused.

"She left yesterday, don't you remember?"

"I was sick yesterday," I said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Grant was filling in for me."

He let out another sob, "I miss her."

"I know, I know," I said gently, hugging his head to my shoulder.

_**Her over Kommer solen**_

_Here Comes The Sun_

_**liten elskede**_

_Little Darling_

_**Her over Kommer solen**_

_Here Comes The Sun_

_**og jeg si,**_

_And I say,_

_**Dens i orden**_

_It's alright_

After the first verse I had softly sang in Norwegian, he mumbled another verse with me in English. After, he had calmed down, I struck up a conversation in a soft toned voice.

"My grandmother used to sing that to me when I was young," I said, still hugging his head but stroking his hair now. I wrapped the blanket around us. "She would sing simple lullaby's to my mother whenever she was upset, and then my grandma would sing to me. My mother just toltally dropped her heritage, so my grandma had to pass it on to me."

"My grandparents came from Norway too," he started, his voice still shaky. "They were kicked out because they had loved eachother before they were married."

I slightly chuckled, "Mine did too." that got a laugh out of him, and at that moment, I knew that I would pull him out of this. We talked for a while before he yawned and fell asleep in my arms, his head still on my shoulder. I follwed closely after him.

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About and hour later, Catherine came in and stopped abrubtly as she saw us curled up on the floor. Her eyes went wide with surprise. She tried to think it out logically, Greg and Anita? As a couple? No way. She backed out of the locker room, bumping into Warrick.

"Cath, what's wrong?"

"Greg and Anita are sleeping together."

"Anita?" he was confused because I had never told them my name, Catherine had only found out by my inspecter when I was being checked by my accuracy.

"The author," That got a shock out of Warrick.

"What?!" He was literally breathless.

"Not like that, you pervert," she said, leading him away, "They're just sleeping on the floor."

"Oh," he paused for a minute. "How'd you know her name?"

She looked at him like he was stupid, "Don't you see that guy that comes in once every year?" he nodded. "That's her inspector. Didn't you hear him screaming at her last year?" he shook his head. "Well, at her last inspection, she had left out a part about Grissom cheating on Sara so she wouldn't know. So, after he had been yelling for about 10 minutes, I finally stepped up. I told him that she was doing a most fantastic job, and that she didn't deserve to be treated this way. And he struck me." Warrick had developed an angry yet confused look on his face. "She wouldn't take that. So, she punched him right in the face for me. And he got so angry that he slapped her across the face too."

"What the hell?" he said, just totally shocked by it.

"Yeah, so me and him, we had a little talk. And, let's just say, that he's not going to be yelling at her, anymore."

He looked at her smugly, "What did you do?"

"I told him that if he didn't leave her alone I would put him away for mental, verbal, and physical abuse."

"Can you really do that?" His face was full of proud confusion.

"I don't know, but it got him to shut up." She chuckled as she left him to go back to the locker room to get another look at us. 'They make a cute couple,' she thought in her motherly way before she moved on.


	5. Chapter 5

I had stirred about an hour later. I looked up, and saw Catherine looking at us. I turned my head to look around to make sure no ne else was here, then, I smiled innocently at her.

Through my smile I said, "You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" My face looked hopeful.

"I don't know," she trailed off, expecting something.

"How 'bout breakfast?" I inquired with another innocent look.

"Breakfast does sound good,"she said, nodding.

I turned to Greg who looked so cute sleeping there. Then I turned back to Catherine, "Do I have to wake him up?" She nodded. I pouted and turned back to him. I touched his shoulder and gently shook it, "Greg, Greg," I whispered. He stirred and pulled the blanket over his head, which only made Catherine and I smile. "Greg common, you gotta get up."

He pulled the blanket down only enough to show his eyes, "Do I have to?" I nodded. "Fine." he tossed the blanket off of him, and sat up. "Oh, hey Cath," he said as he looked up at her. "When does shift start?"

"In an hour or so," she said leaning against the doorjamb.

"Good," he laid back down. "I can sleep another half hour."

"Greg,"I said pulling on his arms to get him back up. "You have to get ready."

"But I don't wanna," he said in a kiddish way.

My mind quickly thought of something, but Catherine beat me to it, "Greg, if you get ready now, you can go to breakfast with us after shift.

He didn't argue, "Okay," he said quickly while getting up. "I'm just going to go get ready then," then he left.

I shook my head.

"Reminds me of someone I know," Catherine said, whilst looking at me.

"Hey," I said, offended. Then, "Shut up."

"Get ready for work, kid," She said ruffling my short brown hair like a child.

I pouted, "Yes, _mom_." I said, like a teenager. All of a sudden my eyes went past Catherine and they got wide. "Sir," my breathing got deeper. "W-What are you doing here, my inspection isn't until next month."

The tall, bald-headed, bull of a man said, "You forgot something Burns."

"What did she do?" Catherine said coming up behind me with a stern stare at him.

His toughness winded down a little bit but he still stood strong, "She was absent yesterday."

"So?" Catherine said.

"So, she didn't get the story,"

"Grant filled in for me." I said, starting to gain some confidence.

"So you made him work all day and all night for you?" he didn't cound convinced.

"He owed me." I half yelled, stepping up. "Remember when you yelled at him on his first day for sitting down?" He nodded. He had developed a sneer on his face. "Remember when everything in your office was replaced by pink fuzzy things?" he nodded again, this time his small eyes narrowed. "Well I did that for him. And to tell you, my neice was very upset when you threw everything out."

"You're lying, you have no family. You're a single child orphan with no family." he spat out, starting a new argument.

"So what, I have no family. What's it to ya?" My attitude was starting to show at the mention of family.

"If you lied to me about your neice, then how do I know you aren't lying to me about the pink fuzzy things?" he said, making his point.

"She does have family," Catherine stepped in, a very angry look on her face. "Warrick, Sara, Grissom, Nick, Greg, and I. That is all the family she needs. Now, back off." She practically yelled at him.

All he did was straighten his suit and tie, and say, "Be ready for next month Burns, and no screw ups." with that, he bitch slapped me across the face.

"What the fuck, man?" Greg yelled as he appeared and hurried in next to me.

"Be ready, Burns." He said, then he walked out with everyone glaring at him.

"Who the hell was that?"Greg asked taking a look at my cheek.

"My boss. I'm fine Greg," I said close to tears.

"No, you're not fine. Look, you're close to tears." Greg gave me a hug.

"Well, I'm just going to have to deal with it. I mean, I need this job." A tear had escaped.

Greg looked so upset, "You don't have to do this, you can go back to college-"

"That's just it Greg, I can't." I sighed. I looked over at Catherine for a sign, and she nodded. "Look, I can't go to college because I never finished high school. He can go into and school, in any state. And he can go to any classroom, and pick any student he wants. I was 18, last week of school, and I was excited 'cause I could finally get out of Buffalo. My last class, and he's there. During the class I was gettin some bad vibes from him. And at the end, he offered me a job. And since I was an orphan with no siblings, I couldn't pass it up. Look, I didn't know that I wouldn't be able finish school before I started. He just put me in his car, put me on a plane, and I landed here. He told me, that all I had to do was write down everything that these people said and did, that's it. And I thought, 'What the hell.' But, after a while, he started getting abusive, and he knows, that everyone that he picks can't quit.He doesn't pick the kids who've graduated and can quit and go to college. He picks the one's who can quit, but they'll just end up homeless because they're dropouts. That's why I've been here for six fuckin years. Because I can't do anything else."

"Anita," Catherine interrupted in a motherly tone, like always. "You can go to college. You can take night classes, get your GTO, and you can be anything."

"Catherine," I said, in a gental voice as my tear stained face dried. "Who am I, to start college at 24? I'm too old, and too poor."

She chuckled, "I was 26 the first time I went to college. And I had to pay for my intuition, a kid, and myself."

"I would still need a job, I mean-" I started but Catherine interrupted.

"I can get you an interview with an old friend of mine, he's always looking for new recruits."

"But, I'd need a place to stay-"

"You can stay at my place," Greg had finally piped in. "I have an extra bed."

I didn't understand, "Why y'all so nice to me? I don't deserve it."

Catherine came over and put her arm around me, "You put up with that ass hole all year round. I barely see him and I can't even stand him." She shaid, leading me out slowly to the break room.

"Next time I see that guy, I'm gonna punch him out." Greg said following us to the coffee maker. "I'm not even going to wait for him to say anything before, I'm just gonna bring him down." He poured us some coffee.

"This is really good," I said as I took a sip.

"Blue Hawaiian. Enjoy the $40 a pound." He said, putting the coffee pot next to me.

"Really?" I said, slowly grabbing the coffee pot and hiding it from Greg's view.

Catherine, seeing me, said, "Common, we should get to work." She tried to pull him away as I backed out of the breakroom with the coffee pot behind my back.

"Sure Cath, I just wanna top off-" He looked and saw the pot was gone. "Where'd it-"

"Thanks, Greg!" I yelled to him from outside the door showing it to him.

"NITA!!" He yelled as he stalked after me with Catherine laughing her head off at us.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, author?" Nick said as he stood at the base of my ladder a week later. I got off my chair and looked down at him with surpirse on my face. "Can you help me?"

I looked sceptical, "With what?"

"With an anniversery present for Maryellen." He said so only I could hear.

I smirked, "Common up," and he came. I gave him my chair and I sat on the desk. "So, what do ya need?"

"You have bio's on everyone, right?" he asked as I got weary.

"Nick, I'm not allowed-"

"I know, I know," he said. "But, could you give me a hint as to what she wanted most as a kid?" He begged.

I sighed, "She didn't want anything,cause she," I hesitated for a minute. "had everything."

"What?" he just wasn't quite getting it.

I took a deep breath, "Maryellen, was a stereotypical cheerleader." I paused for a very dramatic effect. "She had a rich family, perfect friends, perfect house, Quarterback boyfriend; a perfect life. She was cheerleading captain, home comming queen, and the most popular girl in school. After she graduated, Carly took her place in everything. They're bio's are almost exactly the same. Just switch in the name, and they're almost down to the last letter."

He was speechless, "I-I-I didn't know."

"Not many people do."

We were quite for a couple minutes before he said, "So what does she want?"

I got ticked off, "You frickin' bird brain! I just told you that she doesn't want anything cause she had everything! Are you really that thick?" I yelled. He was very shocked. "Just go back to work," I said, and he went to the ladder quickly. "Hey Nicky," I yelled down to him as he started walking away, but he turned his attention back to me. "Get her a pink diamond ring, she likes pink." He nodded and smiled as he walked away.

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'Oh, how I love sleeping time,' I thought as I greatfully lay my head down on the pillow on the locker room floor. I had been there for a total of three minutes, when someone had come in yelling my name and coming over.

"Author, author, I need your help." Maryellen asked me as she shook me awake.

"And what, pray tell, could you possibly want from me?" I was very tense, for everyone, and when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE, has asked me questions all day.

"I need to know what to get Nicky for our anniversary." I closed my eyes so she didn't see me roll them.

'Oh...my...god,' I thought, completely irritated. "Look, he likes birds. So get him something that had to do with birds!"

"Is there anything that he wanted when he was a kid-"

I cut her off, "No! Listen, he grew up in Texas; he had a brother, mother, and father; he came to Vegas, got a job and married you. Listen up Pincess of Pink, I'm going to say this very slowly: He...Likes...Birds." My voice showed lots of anger, but she just didn't pick that up.

"Birds?" Holy frick, was she really that dumb?

"Yes, birds." I said, calm but angry. "Call his parents, tell them to send you a picture of him and pookie. They will know what it means. Put the picture in a frame, and give it to him. It's not _that_ hard."

"Oh, thanks, Author!" she said with perkiness that only a cheerleader could have.

As she left I laid back down, for I had sat up entirely during our...conversation. But, this time I pulled the blanket over my head to make it look like I don't want to be disturbed. I didn't know that someone had come in and laid down next to me until they had spoken.

"Rough day?" said the familiar voice of Greg Sanders.

"I hate people," I said through the blanket. I heard him chuckle.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

I pulled the blanket down the my shoulders, "Yeah. When shift starts, could you tell everyone to leave me alone. Just one quiet shift can make me a **very** happy person."

-------------------------------------------A WEEK LATER-----------------------------------------------------------

"Happy Anniversary!" Nick and Maryellen said to eachother. They sat down on the breakroom couch and exchanged presents. First Nick gave Maryellen her ring and she loved it. She started jumping up and down and hugged him so tightly before she put it on. Then, she gave him his present. He was so surprised to see some tickets to...something. Wait a minute. Didn't I tell her to give him a _picture_?

"MARYELLEN!" I bellowed coming down from my ladder. I walked up to her, excused us from Nick, and took her around the corner. "I told you he likes **birds**. So why didn't you get him the picture like I told you?"

"Nick likes birds?" she said completely clueless, which made me want to hit my head against the wall at the amount of stupid that she was filled with.


	7. Chapter 7

"Author! Author! Author!" Nick called to me as he climbed my ladder two weeks later.

"What? What? What?" I answered him, turning around.

"Dude," he started, breathing heavily, so I think he ran here. Not sure though. "What is goin on with Warrick and Catherine? They are like, at eachothers throats the whole time. And I thought marriage was a good thing?"

"Okay, look," I said in a low voice so the people bustling below didn't hear. "They're not really married. Those rings, are from their last marriages. They think that it's better not to have a permanant relationship." I paused so he could get over that. "What's going on between them, is that Warrick wants to do stuff on his own. And Catherine wants to do stuff together."

"But, why are they at eachother's throats?" Nick asked, looking down below to make sure that Maryellen was close by.

I sighed, yet again, "Alright. Ever since Warrick was a seven, after he moved into his Grandma's house, he had to keep things hush hush from her. And, he got so used to doing that. Because him and Cath do **everything** together, I think he misses doing things by himself and keeping them from Catherine. But, that's just me." I finished, spying Maryellen ascending up the ladder.

"Nicky," she said with a suspicious tone. "What are you," she looked at me. "Doing up here?"

He looked over at her from my chair, since we had switched places: him being on my chair, me leaning on my desk. "We're just talking-" he tried to reason with her.

"I've seen you up here a lot lately." her tone was filling with jealosy more than suspicion now. "And you," she slowly walked up to me, her pink high heels clickling as she went, "you little midget. GAR!" She bitch slapped me harder than I had ever felt before.

"We were just talking Maryellen. Nothing more. I don't like Nick like that. He's like a brother, okay." I tried to reason with her, but, she was to angry to listen.

"I want you to leave my husband alone!" she screamed, causing a great commotion under the entrance.

"I wouldn't purposfully hurt you. You know that. Family knows that,"

She didn't care what I just said, "We are not family! We're not even friends!" and then she punched me so that my mouth and my nose started to bleed.

"MARYELLEN!" Nick shouted grabbing he waist and throwing her away from me. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Don't ever talk to her again, Nicky. If you do, I will demand a divorce." Her intense look at him just scared the crap out of both him and me.

He breathed slowly, trying to get her to calm down, "Okay, I won't talk to her. I won't even look at her. Just please calm down." he put his hands on her shoulders and steered her to the ladder.

Before she had gone all the way down the ladder, she said to me, "If you talk to him, even acknowledge his presence, I will kill you."

Her stare scared me, but I didn't show it, all I said to her was, "You try it then, because he is still part of my family, and even you, you filthy rich ass hole, can't change that." With that statement, she tore from the ladder, tackling me. But I stepped out of the way, so she attacked my desk. While she was frozen with shock at what I just did, I brought her arms behind her back, and handed her like that to Nick. "I'm sorry that you married such a jealous woman that worries about nothing."

And that was the last thing I had said to him before he led her down the ladder and into Grissoms office. I sat down on the chair and put my forehead into my hands as Warrick came up with a first-aid kit. He stepped over the blood pool that my face was now making.

"I'll clean that up later," I said as I closed my eyes.

He lifted my head up and wiped up what had splattered on my face. "You just love gettin hurt, don't ya?" he joked, putting some gauze over the wound.

"This is why I don't tell people anything. I hate getting emothionally involved." We were silent for a while as the crowd dispersed. "So, where's Greg? If he were here, he would've been here in a minute." I slightly chuckled.

"He's at a giant case with Cath and Sara. Probably not going to be back for a while. I'm just going to patch this up, and you'll be good." He said, pulling more items out of the box.

"Thank you, Warrick." I said. I waited until he was finished to pull him into a tight hug.

He hugged me back, "No problem." he said, and we pulled away form eachother at arms length.

He started to pack his things up when I said, "Warrick, the reason Catherine had been doing everything with you lately, is because she didn't get to do anything with her family because of her job, and Lindsay. That's why she's been clinging to you. Because she wants to spend quality time with her family."

He turned to me and smiled, "Thanks," he looked at the blood pool. "Do you want me to clean that up?"

"No, I'll get it. You should probably get back to work." I smiled at him as he descended down the ladder, leaving me all alone. Again.


	8. Chapter 8

After solving their big case two day later, Catherine, Sara and Greg dragged themselves into the break room and collapsed on the couch. They sat there for a good ten minutes, just resting until they heard a voice that they hadn't heard in a month, brought them out of their resting state.

"Hey y'all. What's been going on?" Carly's voice rose out of the hallway which brought Greg out running to make sure that he wasn't imagining. At first he stared at her in shock, not knowing whether to believe his eyes or not.

"You're really there, right?" he asked. After she nodded, he hugged her so tightly that he didn't want to let go. "Why'd you leave?" he said, only pulling away at arms length.

"Didn't Maryellen tell you?" he shook his head. "I went to Montana to get married." His mouth fell. "Yeah, but, our marriage didn't last two weeks, so, we got divorced."

"You know," he said "A month ago, I was told that you had three kids?" he got this unbelieving look on his face.

"Well you heard wrong, because our marriage didn't last long enough to have kids." she said, shaking her head with a smile on her face. And then she stared at him. "I've missed you like crazy." She said before she kissed him.

I was climbing down my ladder when I saw. And I was so shocked, I actually fell off and landed on my butt. I quickly got up, apparently the sound of me falling didn't interupt their make out session, and walking backwards into a room still with a look of complete shock. I continued to walk backwards until I had hit something warm. I heard a grunt, and looked up to see Nick's head looking down at me in question.

"What's up?" he asked since Maryellen had been suspended for the charade two days ago. I grabbed the sides of his head and pulled it down towards mine. Then I turned it to where I was looking so he could see what I was gaping at. As soon as he saw it, he started gaping too. "She's back?" he said, frowning at Greg who was more than happy to see her. "I would be furious if I was him. If Maryellen did to me what Carly did to him, I'd be so angry. I wouldn't be making out with her." He started to head towards them, but I quickly went behind him, put my hand over his mouth, and dragged him farther into the room.

I let him go and pinned him against the wall. "We can't call them on this," I whispered making sure that neither Carly nor Greg had heard us.

"Why not?" he whispered back, angry as hell.

"Because if we do, Greg will hate me forever." I whispered back at him.

"You like him, don't you?" he said in a big brother kind of way.

"Yeah, I do. But he's not going to like someone who's short, looks like me, and didn't finish high school. Would you like someone like that?" I gave him a trick question.

"If I wasn't married to the woman of my dreams, I'd be worshipping the ground you walked on." He said, trying to make me see reason.

I sighed, "My hair is short and mousey brown."

"So? Brown is beautiful on you,"

"My eyes are almost black," I said, becoming hopeless.

"No, they're not. They are like milk mixed with chocolate." he said full of a poets passion.

I was trying not to laugh, "That was kinda lame, just let you know."

He looked completely serious, "I don't care, it's how I feel." He paused as he looked at my sad face. "And if Greg was smart, he wouldn't be with that loser Carly, he'd be with you."

I shrugged, smiling a little, "Whoever said Greg was smart?"

Nick laughed, "True, true." He gave me a hug, and I walked away.

But I came back to the doorway and said, "Hey, Nick," he looked over. "My name's Anita," I said before I left him smiling. After I climbed my ladder, I pulled it up for the first time. And then, I quietly shut the door, hoping no one would notice. 'If they get engaged,' I thought curling up in the corner of my corner and letting a few tears fall. 'I'm quitting.'


	9. Chapter 9

Catherine walked into the breakroom a week later to find Greg standing in the far corner looking at the ceiling confused.

"Lookin' for something?" she asked, walking over and following his gaze.

"Nita's ladder is gone." he said, staring at the door on the ceiling.

"It's been gone for week, Greg. Do you really not notice things? Like at all?" She asked, looking at him like he's stupid.

"Why's it gone?"

"Because she wanted peace and quiet. Now, get back to work." she ordered afraid at what she might hear.

"But I wanted to tell her that Carly and I are engaged, and that Carly wanted her to be her maid of honor." he said all excited about the whole thing.

"I'll tell her, you get back to work." she said, sitting down and putting her head in her hands as he gave his thanks and left. "Oh, damn, damn, damn." she whispered, not noticing Nick stroll in.

"What happened?" he asked, pouring the sludge coffee into his cup. She just groaned in reply. "Oh, shit," he knew that what he feared had come true. "They got engaged, didn't they?"

"Uh, huh."

"She's gonna quit, you know." he sighed.

"Yep."

"What the hell are we gonna do?" he sat down next to her.

She picked up her head, "The only thing we can do."

He looked up hopeful, "Lie?" She shook her head.

Deciding that I should probably come down, I quietly opened my door let down my ladder, and started to climb down. But, when I heard Nick say, " 'They got engaged, didn't they?' " and then Catherine answer, I fell off...again.

"You guys don't have to lie to me," I said, startling them after Nick had washed the hopeful look off of his face.

I picked myself off of the floor as Nick stuttered, "A-Anita, what did you hear?"

"Enough." I said, starting to head out the door.

"Anita," Catherine's motherly tone called to me, so I stopped. "Please don't do anything stupid."

I slightly smiled, "But that's something I do every day." With that, I walked out into the parking lot, only to break down. "FUCK!" I screamed, releasing only a portion of my anger. I fell to my knees, and just released every bad thing that had ever happened. "Oh, god," I said, tears flowing like rivers down my cheeks. "I think I'm gonna be sick," I covered my mouth and quickly ran to the nearest garbage can, which turned out to be the dumpster. After I had vomited, I slid down the side of the dumpster and just sat there and cried.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With an angry look on his face, Nick went to go pay a little visit to Greggo. He found him with Archie, and innocently said, "Greg, can I talk to you, just for a minute?" he nodded, and as soon as Greg left the room, Nick grabbed him by the back of the neck.

"Shit, what'd I do?" Greg quickly brought his shoulders up in reflex, cringing in pain.

"Come here," Nick led him out the door, letting go of his neck, but grabbing both of his shoulders instead and applying a hell of a lot of pressure. He took him by the dumpster, so he could see what he did to me, but I was too busy wallowing in misery to notice.

"What happened?" he whispered as the pressure was lifted off of his shoulders.

"What do you think?" Nick asked in the same volume but a much angrier tone.

"Did she get fired?" Greg had a pityful look on his face.

"Something worse. She got beat down by her best friend." Greg looked up at him in horror. "And all it took was one little sentence."

"Nicky!" Catherine whispered sternly, coming up behind him. "This isn't the time or place." she grabbed his arm. "Now common, we have to finish this case." she started to pull him away, when Greg's voice called to her.

"Catherine," She turned. "I didn't mean to hurt her."

She just smiled weakly, "I know you didn't, Greg."she went and patted his shoulder. Then steered him toward the lab.


	10. Chapter 10

A few days later, I was in the home of Nicholas Stokes, and Maryellen Notlef, fighting for my life... Just kidding, I was actually sitting on their couch, drinking coffee... or whiskey, which ever you prefer. Maryellen was sitting in the recliner across from me, and we were acting like we always did when Nick wasn't around.

"So, George," I said, pouring more coffee/whiskey into my cup. "When do we leave for Canada?"

"Fred, Fred, Fred," she said, taking the bottle from me. "We go on this trip every month, and we always leave the first Friday of the month after work, and come back before work on Monday." Maryellen poured more into her mug.

"So," I said. "We should probably stop drinking. I have to go to work tomorrow."

"And don't forget," she started as I tried to get up, but failing miserbly. "Pack your stuff while your there, cause as soon as shifts over, we're gone."

After my third attempt to get up failed and I flopped down on the couch, I said, "You are so lucky that your suspension doesn't end until Monday." I turned my head onto the pillow. "Can I stay here? I _really_ don't wanna go to work. Today's my inspection." I groaned. "I hate Nathan."

Maryellen raised a teasing eyebrow, "Who's Nathan?"

"My boss." I bitterly said. "Imma sleep here, and you have to wake me up at seven, okay?" I slurred a little bit. Well, what would you expect for someone who had about four coffee/whiskey's? Okay, fine, it was seven or eight. But Maryellen had some too.

"Fine, but, you have to drive the whole way to Canada," she bargained in a sing songy voice. She went to the closet and got me a blanket after I had grunted what she assumed was agreement.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After shift, I almost literally skipped down the hallway, a big smile plastered on my face because I hadn't seen Nathan all day. I was just walking out, computer bag on my shoulder with a couple days worth of clothes and not my laptop, cause that's under lock and key in my desk; and then I ran into my bestest buddy in the whole wide world.

"Greg!" I hugged him."How are you doing today?" I let go. My smile was bigger than ever.

"I am just dandy, how are you?" He said, a smile played on his face as well.

"I am fantastic," I started giggling as I hugged him again.

He smelled my breath and narrowed his eyes at me jokingly. "Are you drunk?"

"Little bit," I said, using hand motions. I smiled at him again. "Have a nice day." with that said, I kissed him full on the mouth. That was the best moment of my life and I didn't want it to end, but I did in fact pull away first. Then, I walked out of there, my giant smile still plastered. Almost immediately, I saw the Corvette that Maryellen had picked out for us. I walked up to it, and gave Maryellen a big hug.

"Did you do it?" she asked, a joyus look was on her.

"Yep, and I bet he's still standing there." we laughed as we got into the car.

"Did he say anything?" she asked as we pulled out.

"I left before he could. But he thought I was drunk, so, he's probably going to forget about it." I shook my head, trying to get all of the nonsense out of it.

"Fred, I know you might not think so, but I think that you left him speechless, cause he's never has such a kiss." she cackled. Wait. Maryellen cackles?

"Since when have you seen me kiss someone?" I questioned turning onto the high way.

"Don't you remember Owen?" I bushed. "Oh yeah, you remember Owen. I think it was junior year, and you two were almost inseparable."

"Shut up," I was so embarassed now.

"Remeber that night you two were on the football field?" I nodded. "And he surprised you with his class ring," I frowned.

"And then Justin beat him up the next day." I pulled into a diner just outside of Las Vegas, on the side of the high way.

"Well, you told him to," She said, taking the menu from the waitress. We sat down and ordered.

"Only because he cheated on me with the whore of Hamburg that morning." I picked up my burger and took a bite. We talked on and off like that for almost an hour before we left. We were laughing as we got into the car, and pulled out. But, as we turned out to leave, an eighteen-wheeler came around on my blindspot and smashed right into us. The last thing I heard was Maryellen screaming in pain before mine did me over.


	11. Chapter 11

General Justin Strain had been sitting by Anita's bed in Desert Palms for about two days now. Nick, Warrick, Catherine, Sara, Carly, Greg, and Grissom were all at Maryellen's side. Her parents were coming by later today. They were all talking to eachother except to Justin. He had his hands folded and against his mouth. His eyes never left her. Every now and then, Catherine would look over at him with pity, and then turn back to Maryellen. After everyone had left, and Nick had fallen asleep with his head on her bed, Catherine had waltzed over to Justin to strike up a conversation.

"So," Catherine said, pulling a chair next to him. "How do you know Anita?"

"I'm her brother." he simply said, turning his head towards her, showing her his sad eyes.

"Blood or no?"

"No."

"When did you meet her?"

He sighed. "At the orphanage. She came in when she four, and I was five. After her house burned down, she was scared of pretty much everything. So, I protected her from what she thought was scary. Since I had always wanted to go into the army, she gave us names. She was Lieutenant, and I was General. We were that to eachother until I left. And, I left the day before Nathan came." he said his name like it was a bad taste.

"Nathan?" Catherine asked, now fully into their conversation.

"Her boss." he paused for dramatic effect. "She's told me what he's been doing to her, and when I see him, he's going to pay for hurting her." his voice was so sharp, it could cut through butter. His eyes went to Maryellen. "Who's she?"

"A fellow CSI, her name's Maryellen Knaszak."

Justin got this confused look on his face, "Knaszak?" Catherine nodded. "I've met her."

"Really?"

"Yeah. At school. She and Anita were always at eachother's throats. But, one year they just stopped and became like, best friends."

Catherine scoffed, "I don't know what happened back then, but they hate eachother now."

"No they don't." Catherine looked surprised. "They're still best friends. But they're also damn good actors that would do anything for their show."Justin smiled at her. "What's your name?"

"Catherine Willows. And you?"

"General Justin Strain, at your service." They shook hands, and would have continued talking except that Anita's hand had moved a tiny bit. Since Justin had just spent two straight day watching an unmoving body, this little bit of movement was a miracle to him. He turned away from Catherine and turned to her with hope. "Common Lieutenant, you're strong, you can pull out of this." he grabbed her hand and squeased it as I walked through the door. He looked up at me, "Who are you?"

"Grant, a co-worker."

"Nathan or Grissom?"

"Nathan." Justin nodded, and I walked to Anita's side like him. "How is she?"

"She hasn't moved in two days, but her hand just twitched before you got here."

"What about Maryellen?"

"She hasn't moved either." I looked at both of them. They looked so peaceful, even with the various amouts of cuts and bruises. Justin noticed my uneasy look.

"You know what's going to happen, don't you?"

I nodded. "I really wish I didn't." A tear escaped from my brown eyes and down my dark face. The next thing that Justin, Catherine, Nick, and I knew, was that a loud beep errupted inside the room.


	12. Chapter 12

The doctors came seconds after they heard, immediately they brought in the shockers and went over to Mayellen. They shocked her once. Nothing. Twice. Nothing. A third time for hope. A pulse. Slow, but still there. After Maryellen was confirmed stable, the doctor that brought her back went over to Justin as Nick grabbed her hand and held it tightly.

"General Strain," he said, as Justin stood up in his wrinkled military uniform. "Miss Burns is going to be just fine. The crash did give her a mild concussion and a broken wrist, but nothing worse than that."

Justin let out a sigh of relief, "What about Maryellen?"

"Mrs. Stokes? Oh, well, she has a slightly worse concussion and a broken arm. Thank the good Lord nothing worse happened to them. A semi should have done worse, but apparently they were lucky."

"Wait a minute," Justin said getting this confused look on his face. "What the hell was that then? Maryellen almost dies, and all she has is a bad concussion? Explain how the hell this works out?" he started raising his voice taking a step towards the doctor so that they were face to face.

"Look!" the doctor yelled, obviously confused as well as stressed out. "I'm just a doctor for God's sake! I have no idea what the hell happens around here!" he left with Justin standing there with a shocked look on his face.

"Ok, the minute she wakes up, she's out of here!" Justin said to Catherine who only agreed. Then, he looked at me. I was still looking between Maryellen and Anita. He slowly walked up to me with a look that I couldn't describe on his face. "Did you do something to save them?"

"Yeah." I looked ashamed.

Justin saluted me, "Thank you. She's all I got."

"And, you're all she's got. So, I thought that maybe I could pull a few strings, and help you out." I smiled a little.

At the same moment, both Maryellen and Anita gasped as they sat up in surprise. They looked at eachother and screamed. Then, they looked at Catherine, Nick, Justin and I, and yelled, "WHAT THE HECK, MAN?! WHY THE HECK AREN'T WE DRUNK IN CANADA?!?!?!" Then, Maryellen looked at Nick as Anita looked at Justin, and they both said, but with the difference of Justin and Nick's name, "Oh, hey Nick/Justin."

Catherine was the only one who wasn't shocked. So, she said, "Aren't you guys supposed to be all, hurt and stuff?"

"We are?" They said together, like They have been doing.

At that moment, Greg walks in and said, "Yeah, you have no legs. The Doctors had to cut them off."

"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!" They screamed, pulling off their sheets, and getting this angry look on both of their faces when they saw that Greg was lying. So, they teared from their beds, and tried to run after Greg, but since they were still connected to the Heart monitors, they were pulled back and fell right on their asses.

They were helped up by Nick and Justin with Catherine and Greg standing there, laughing, and me, kind of hiding in the corner like normal. They glared at Greg as they climbed back into their beds. Anita turned to Justin, and through clenched teeth, said, "General, will you please kill him for me?"

He smiled and turned to Greg, "Play nice Greg," Greg just kept on laughing at their failed attempt on his life. "So, how do you feel? Both of you."

They looked at eachother, "Fine. We just want to know why we aren't drunk in Canada."

Catherine sighed, "You two act like my daughters, hell, you two are practically my daughters, and the both of you are grounded for trying to head to Canada to get drunk!"

"Sorry mom," they said in unison, hanging their heads.

"Cath," Nick started, coming up behind her and putting his hands on her shoulders in a friendly gesture. "They are big girls now, they can do what they want."

"They acted like 5 year olds, and they deserved to be punished."

Anita got this confused look on her face, just like the one she has on all of the time, "So, 5 year olds get drunk?"

"And can drive?" Maryellen added.

Out of nowhere, the doctors ran in with a body on a gurney. They grabbed the shockers, and tried to resesitate him, but, it failed. The tall black doctor said after three tries, "Call it, Newbie."

"Dead at 16:15. Heartattack." the shorter man in blue scrubs said, after the walked out to call the morgue guy.

"Oh my God," Anita said looking over at the man. "That's Nathan."

Anita looked at Maryellen, and they had the same thought, "PARTY!"

"You guys are grounded, remember," Catherine said in a very strict tone.

"You were serious?"


	13. Chapter 13

Two weeks later, Maryellen and I were back at work. Since Nathan was gone, Grant had taken over. But, being the awsometastic dude that Grant was, he didn't make us do anything. On his first day, he gathered us all up, and told us that he wasn't going to be like Nathan. That we didn't have to do what he had originally taken us for. We were to do something we enjoyed. Because none of us had High School deploma's, Grant wasn't going to throw us out into the street. His exact words were, 'All I want you to do, is write something down every day. It could be anything. A sentence, a paragraph, a story. Just anything.' We got the same salary, which wasn't very much, but, Grant couldn't do anything about that. So, this is where I am now. I'm still in my solitary corner. But, I'm changing something. I'm going to take Catherine's advice, and go to college. And maybe, I'll be here again, just not like this. I had sent my application a month ago, and I got accepted to the University of Buffalo, the best science school in Maryellen and mine's hometown. And that's what I'm doing. Right now, I'm packing up all of my files and folders with everyone's bio's, and putting them in the backpack I've had since High School.

I sighed as put the last of my things from my desk in the bag. The team was going out to dinner before work to see me on to the plane. So, update on the team: Maryellen and Nick had become a stronger couple after the accident. Grissom and Sara have settled their differences, and are now back together. Catherine and Warrick are planning their real wedding, and Greg and Carly are broken up. Don't ask me how it happened, but, all I know is that Maryellen and Carly went to a JT concert, and apparently Carly was invited backstage with JT, and they hooked up. Like I said, don't ask me.

I climbed down my ladder, and walked to the locker room to remove my things from my locker (yeah, i gotta a locker, what's it to ya?!). When I got there, someone came up behind me, and grabbed me around the legs saying, "NO! You're not allowed to go!"

I sighed, "Greg, we've been through this."

"But who's going to talk to me?!" he said, hugging my legs even tighter. "Who's going to help me through bad relationships? Who's gonna help me with my mental problems?!"

"You can come with me," I said trying to pry him off.

"It's so far away!"

"I'll come back to visit! I promise!!" I took off my ring from my right hand. "Hey, stand up, you look like a fool." Greg stood up with a pout on his face. "I'll be back for this," I handed him my class ring.

"You're school ring?"

"There's no item more important to me than that. And you better take care of it, other wise imma beat you down, boy." He smiled, and we walked to the break room where everyone was meeting.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Nick asked as we entered.

"Actually, there's been a change of plans." I said, leaving them confused. "Um, it would be too difficult to leave if we had dinner like we planned, so, I am just going to head to the airport. Sorry."

Just at that moment Carly ran in with JT right behind her. They looked so excited, "Guys, guess what?"

"Let me guess," Greg said, "Nick's pregnant."

Carly rolled her eyes, "You said that last time, Greg."

He shrugged his shoulders, "It could happen." Nick came up behind him and slapped him upside the head.

"JT and I are engaged!" Everyone's mouths dropped.

After a minute of silence, Grissom piped in, "Congratulations," everyone took that as a sign to pat them on the back and what not, but I took it as 'get the hell outta here,'. So, I took Greg by the arm, and dragged him out of the break room.

He was confused, "Where am I going?"

"You're coming with me." I took him out to Catherine's car, since she was supposed to take me, but for some reason, I had the keys.

"I don't wanna go back to college!"

"You're just coming with me to the airport." I said, getting into the passengers seat as he got into the drivers. We really didn't talk during the drive.

But, when I got to my gate, he said, "I'm gonna miss you,"

I smiled, "I'll miss you too, Greggo." And, I kissed him. Just a quick kiss on the lips, one that tells him, 'Yeah, I like you, but I'm going away. Bye bye.'

"Hey," Greg said in a low whisper right after we pulled apart. "I want you to take something." he took a small velvet box out of his pocket, opened it, and took out the ring. "I want you to have it."

I raised my eyebrow, "Are you asking me to marry you?"

"No, it's just, your finger might get lonely without your ring." he smirked and handed it to me. "You promise to wear it?"

"Yeah. You gonna wear mine?" I had a teasing look on my face.

He held up his left hand, showing me that he already was, "It's a very stunning color," he said, indicating the green stone.

It made me smile, "Bye," I said, going through the gate. But, I shouted back, "Tell Maryellen that Nick passes! And not to tell him until my return!"


	14. Chapter 14

December 23, of that year, Maryellen was walking down the hallway near the front desk, when Judy stopped her, "Ah! Maryellen, this letter came for you." she handed her the letter, and Maryellen was just giddy at the return address: Anita Burns

Universtiy at Buffalo...

She didn't even keep reading because she started skipping down the hallway towards the breakroom, totally forgetting what she was doing before.

--

I sat in the fifth row left seat of a public bus staring at the bright lights of Vegas. Everything looked beautiful at night. But I knew it was all just an illusion.

"Last stop, Frontier Casino Music Hall." The driver called. I stood up and left the bus. I slowly walked into the giant lighted building.

--

"_Dear George,_

_Guess what? I'm back in town! But, I'm only here for one of my classes. Actually two of my classes. One is a short internship at the Lab, and the other is to be in a play in a different state. I would be honored if you could get the fam together and haul it on down to the Frontier Casino Music Hall, to watch _**RENT**_.Imma be Joanne Jefferson. It's for my extra class, which is an acting class. And no, Justin doesn't count. Enclosed in this envolope are eight tickets for the first show. The date is on the ticket, but, it's December 24th. Now, don't get mad, but I've been down here for about three weeks now, for rehersal. After the show is gone in a week, I'll be at the lab for the rest of January. _

_Your Twin,_

_Fred" _Maryellen finished, as the rest of the team stared at her in the breakroom.

It took them a minute, but Carly was the first one to say anything, "Why can't JT come?"

Maryellen, looked at her sister like she was stupid, "Because he's gay. And no one cares about him." Thank goodness that shut Carly up.

Right after that, Greg stood up, "Well, I'm going, give me my ticket. I wouldn't miss it for the world." He said, as Maryellen took out a ticket for him.

"Me too," Grissom and Sara said together, and Maryellen handed out the tickets to everyone.

"Don't forget guys, tomorrow at nine is the Christmas party, so don't forget your dates!" She said in a high pitched voice, pointing it more towards Greg then anyone else...Actually pretty much telling it to Greg.

Greg smiled, and left the breakroom. Since shift was going to begin in like two hours (he was still there from overtime), he decided he was going to visit the Frontier Casino Music Hall, to see what I was up to.

I didn't notice him, because he was sitting in the very back of the auditorium. He caught me in the middle of the song 'Take Me Or Leave Me'. It was at the part where "Maureen" was telling "Joanne" that she was a diva and she couldn't help it that people looked and flirted with her:

_Maureen:  
No way, can I be what I'm not!  
But hey, don't you want your girl hot?  
Don't fight, don't loose your head,  
'Cause every night who's in your bed?  
Who? Who's in your bed?  
Kiss Pookie?!_

Joanne:  
It won't work!  
I look before I leap.  
I love margins and discipline.  
I make lists in my sleep, baby.  
What's my sin?  
Never quit.  
I follow through.  
I hate mess but I love you.  
What to do with my impromptu baby?  
So be wise, 'cause this girl satisfies,  
You got a prize, so don't compromise  
You're one lucky baby!!

Joanne: Take me for what I am!  
Maureen: A control freak!  
Joanne: Who I was meant to be!  
Maureen: A snob yet over attentive!  
Joanne: And, if you give a damn!  
Maureen: A lovable droll, geek!  
Joanne: Take me baby or leave me!  
Maureen: And anal retentive!

Both: That's it!  
Joanne: The straw that breaks my back!  
Both: I quit!  
Joanne: Unless you take it back!  
Both: Women,  
Maureen:What is it about them?  
Both: Can't live, with them or without them!

Both: Take me for what I am  
Joanne: Who I was meant to be  
Maureen: Who I was meant to be  
and, if you give a damn  
Joanne: and if you give a damn you better  
Take me baby,(Maureen: Oh take me baby!)or leave me  
Maureen: take me or leave me  
Both: Take me baby, or leave me  
Guess I'm leaving, I'm gone! 

Now, Greg had never seen RENT before, so, he didn't really know what was going on. All he knew, was that I was fighting with some chick about, love? He was just confused. So, he continued to sit there, and, he during the song 'Without You,' he saw so many things that made everything click. A lady that was going through withdrawal is having a fight with her boyfriend about the drugs. A man is dying, and his lover is terribly sad, and never left his side. And he finally figured out that my character was gay, and was having a fight with her lover about her flirting with everyone in sight. Was his girl...ummm...friend, and then he lost his thought.


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RENT (JONATHAN LARSON OWNS THAT, GOD REST HIS SOUL) OR CSI (THAT'S FOR ANTHONY E. ZUIKER)**

By the song, 'Good Bye Love,' Greg had become very interested. He listened intently as Roger told Mimi that he was leaving her because of her choices. And the I was leaving Maureen because of_ her _choices. For some reason, one of my last lines got my attention in the back row.

_Mimi & Joanne:  
I'D Be Happy To Die For A Taste  
Of What Angel Had  
Someone To Live For-Unafraid  
To Say I Love You!_

At, 'I Love You!', I looked up into the seats, like always, and I was surprised to see Greg. My eyes went a tad wider, but I was still able to stay with the others. We finished triumphantly, like always, and, the director clapped in the first row like it was the best thing he had ever seen.

After Stella (Maureen) and I went off of stage, hugging and crying, I went through the 'Cast Only' doors that led out to the main hallway. I entered the auditorium as 'Living In America' started, and quickly found him just to the right of the door in the back row. I quietly sat down next to him, leaned over and whispered, "What are you doing here?"

He smiled, and whispered back, "I came to see you."

"I was gonna see you tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, but, I missed you too much."

I smiled, "I missed you too. I have to go." I quietly pecked him on the lips, and went back down to the stage before my next part.

It was maybe five minutes before I was back on stage again, this time, I was holding Janine (Mimi), who was slowly dying.

"Mark! Roger! Somebody Help!" Stella shouted, and Mark, Roger, and Collins came running to the balcony of their apartment. "We can't get her up the stairs, hurry up, please!"

They came down so fast, and took her out of my arms, "We found her in the park, she wanted to see you." I said, heading upstairs with them. We got there, and I cleared off the table, and put a blanket on it so she could lay on it. Stella and I sat on the couch watching them say their goodbyes. Roger sang 'Your Eyes,' to Janine, as she died. We all sat there crying for a while, until she sprang back to life.

"I was going towards, this, warm, white light. And, I swear, Angel was there. And she looked good" We laughed at that, and she continued, "And she said, 'Turn around girlfriend, and listen to that boys heart."

"Your drenched," Roger said.

"Your fever's breaking,"Stella added.

Mark started singing the reprise of 'No Day But Today,' which signaled for the guys to join him. After Janine, Stella, and I all started to sing 'Without You', Mark went to turn on his projector, and started his documentary. When the documentary ended, so did we. The curtains fell, and lights went up, and the last rehearsal was finished. The director went nuts, seeing his work all put together, it was like a dream come true to him. "Bravo! Bravo!" he shouted, clapping wildly.

Once again, I showed up next to Greg, who astounded at the performance. I smiled at his face, "How'd you like it?"

He gave me a hug and kiss, "It was amazing."

I grabbed his hand, "Come on, I want you to meet someone." I led him back stage. I went to Mark's mirror, and covered his eyes. "Guess who?"

"Hm, let me think, Joanne?" He turned around, smirking.

"Correct," I smiled, and clapped my hands. All of a sudden Mark went into serious mode. We did our secret handshake. _Hands together, left hand hit, right hand hit, clap, right hand hit up, clap, right hand hit down, clap, left hand butt, right hand butt, butt bump_. I turned around with a laugh on my face, "Sorry, okay, Greg, this is Jeff, Jeff, this is Greg, my," I looked up to him for an answer, but I never got it, "my friend, Greg."

"Hey! Nito!" Stella called and dragged me away.

"Greg, can we talk?" Jeff said, leading him to the chair in front of his mirror. "Look, Anita, is one of my dearest friends, and, I just wanna confront with you on something. Do you like her?"

Greg was speechless for a minute, before he said, "Yeah, yeah I do. I really do."

Jeff smiled, "Good, now, I want you to take her out tomorrow. Show her that you do."

"I was planning on asking her to this Christmas party tomorrow-"

"Good, I'll get her ready."Jeff walked away with a smile, and I came back with a raised eyebrow.

"What were you two talking about?"

"Nothing, guy stuff." He followed me out, and to my car. "Hey, is Jeff gay?"

"Duh." I turned my car on and almost drove away when I said, "Thank you, for coming."

"Any time." He said, and he pecked me on the lips.

With that, I drove home.


	16. Chapter 16

To me, home was the Lab. And the people there, my family. But, I didn't want them to know I was there. So, I went all Mission Impossible on them, and climbed into my office through the ceiling. But it didn't quite work out. See, as I got out of my car, some giant bozo came out of no where and engulfed me into a hug. I went rigid in surprise.

"You're not allowed to leave ever again," The man said, me recognizing him at once.

"Warrick, we can talk about this," I said, running out of breath.

"NO!!!!!! You can't leave! Who's gonna make me a sandwich!!!!" He squealed as he squeezed me tighter.

"I won't be here to make you a sandwich if I can't breathe." I gasped, and he lightened his grip on me, but didn't let go.

"I'm not gonna let you leave. What if I need you?!?!? What if I get hungry!?!?!?!"

"I'm staying for a month, I can make you a sandwich now." I said, trying to calm him down.

"But what about later!! After you escape, which WILL not happen, but, still, what about after?"

"I'll make you a million sandwiches!" I tried to cheer him up.

"But what if I run out?" he cried, not really, I just felt like using that word.

"Get Greg to make you sandwiches!"

"But he doesn't make them right!!!!!!"

"Hey," Greg popped out of no where. "I think I make pretty good sandwiches."

Warrick started to protest, but I said, "How 'bout I make you a sandwich, right now?" His eyes got wide with excitement. "And I can put all your favorite fixin's on it." I smiled and he was a like puppy with a biscuit being dangled in front of him. "How does turkey, on wheat, with tomatoes and mayo sound?" He was practically drooling at the mouth. "Now, go inside and wash your hands." and he was gone.

"I've never seen him so...pathetic." Greg said, he put his arms around my shoulders and we went inside.

"Yep, he's my bitch. And I'm very proud of that." I said, smiling. We went into the break room, and I went towards the fridge, but, Greg held my arm. "What?" I asked, smiling when his cute face went serious.

"Will you come with me to the party tomorrow?" he asked, with that look in his eyes that just made you weak at the knees.

"What time?" I asked now supporting myself with my arms around his shoulders.

"Nine." he looked hopeful.

"Well, it ends at eight-thirty. And since, your going to be there, I guess I could come." He smiled and kissed me to the point where we had to breathe. "I should probably find Grant, he's expecting to here from me."

Greg got his 'evil eye' going, "What about Warrick's sandwich? He's going to be expecting something."

"He's my bitch he'll wait." I said, giving Greg one more quick kiss before I went to Grant's office. I came to his open door, found him buried under, quite literally, millions of papers. "Hey stranger," I said, jerking him out of his paper signing thing.

"Well, well, well. Look whose back in town. How's Buffalo?" he asked showing me a seat.

"They took me in, spat me out, and shot me down. They kicked me out for being too smart." I said, sitting down. "My one Professor told me that AFIS was for DNA collection. I've been here for six bloody years, I think I would know what AFIS does." I took a deep, calming breath. "So, yeah, they kicked me out. The only thing I'm allowed to do is the play because we didn't have another person. They gave me this piece of paper to give you." I went into my backpack (which was with me the whole time), and pulled out a folder. I got the paper and his ticket out.

"Well, according to this paper, if I sign it and send it back to them, they can send you your diploma if you complete the exams." He took another look. "They're going to be held at UNLV June 14, 2008."

"How am I going to learn four years worth of information, in six months?"

"I would suggest you use your resources. You practically live here." There was something in his voice.

"What do you mean practically?" he didn't meet my eye. "Grant, what did you do with my office?"

"It's a," he paused for a minute, pondering whether or not to tell me. "storage closet now."

My mouth was about the size of a basketball, "How could you do that?! That was where I lived!"

"Yeah, well, things change."

"Where am I supposed to go? To live?" I asked, completely confused on what he was telling me.

"You're gonna have to find your was like the rest of us." he said, and I left his office a dumb stuck look still on my face.


	17. Chapter 17

"...I mean, after all I've done for the kid, he throws me out! **Godhet Meg! **_Goodness Me! _How could he do this to me?!" I yelled to Maryellen as I paced in the break room. "I did everything for him! I took a dive to save his job, because I liked him, he was the only one I could tolerate. I was the one who he came to whenever Nathan blew up at him. And what does he do to me? He throws me out. Oh, Anita's in college, she doesn't need her office anymore, lets just kick her out. She won't care!" I calmed down a little when she handed me the cup of coffee she had in her hands. I took a sip, "What kind of coffee is this? It's doesn't taste like mud."

"It's Greg's Blue Hawaiian coffee. Remember? $40 a pound?"

"Yeah! I remember, I took it from him, and he chased after me." I sighed, and took another sip. "I miss the good ol' days."

Maryellen scoffed, "What good old days?"

"When we didn't have a care in the world. When we were all fun loving. Stupid French Poodle, had to come back and mess everything up."

"Sorry Fred, but those days ended at Boston Valley."

"You know, when your sister wasn't here for that one month, it was amazing. I mean, we would go out all the time, like to the bowling alley, or the diner, or we would just go to his apartment and I'd cook him breakfast." I sat down next to her.

"Then what's the problem? Dude, Carly is with JT, remember?" She said, talking to me like I was an idiot. "You two were making out in the hallway like five minutes ago, I don't see the problem here."

"He is still in love with Carly." Maryellen started laughing.

"That is total bull and you know it. Look, Justin and her are happy together, okay, they're married. You and Greg got real chemistry. Y'all gonna make it. You're not going to end up like me and Nick. Trust me." She had this motherly look on her face, which confused me a bit, because I was older than her, and she was definitely _not_ my mother.

"What really happened between you guys?" I said, turning to face her on the couch.

"It was mostly because of the miscarriage while you were gone. But, other than that, I think he was tired of bad things goin on, so, he went on a vacation to Texas to be with his folks for a while. God, I miss him. It's been over a month since I've talked to him." She placed her mug on the coffee table next to the couch, and put her head in her hands.

I thought quickly on what to do, and it came to me, "Come on, get up." I grabbed her hands and drug her up.

"What are you doing?" She protested.

"I'm going to take you to where Greg and I go when one of us is sad." I said, taking her outside into the early morning light (shift was over).

"I'd rather not go to Greg's bedroom, thank you." Maryellen said as I forced her into my car.

"Look, I've only been in there once, and that was to get a pair of pajamas because my clothes were soaked from the rain." I said, turning the car on and pulling out of the driveway.

"Yeah, right," Maryellen mumbled. Maybe ten minutes later, Maryellen asked, "Where are we going?"

I smiled, "You'll see. Like I said before, it's where Greg and I go when one of us is sad. See," I chuckled. "I came up with this little poem: When we have a frown, we go knock stuff down. It's actually a real nice place, family owned."

"It's a drug joint isn't it?" George asked, jokingly.

"Oh, of course, always." I smiled and pulled into the driveway.

"Where are we?"

"We are at Brosform Bowling Alley, where only the best happens to the people who ask. Actually a 50's bowling alley inside, very beautiful, they're open twenty-four hours." I paused a minute. "Let's go George, miracles happen here."

"I'm sure they do, Fred. I'm sure they do." she said, sarcasm flooding her voice.


	18. Chapter 18

We went inside, and Maryellen realized that I hadn't lied to her. It really was beautiful inside. Everything looked new, but it had that 50's look. The 20 lanes (10 on each side) looked clean and shiny, the walls were a bright white with different kinds of painting of diners and oldie cars. The man at the desk was dressed in a teal blue polo with two black stripes on the front. His name tag read 'Brady'. Oh, shit.

"Hi, welcome to Brosform Bowling Alley, how may I help you?"

"Yeah, two games please." Maryellen said, taking a good look at Brady. "Brady? Is that you?"

"I knew from the moment I saw you that you were the Maryellen Jamie Notlef that I once knew. So, how ya been? Haven't seen you in ages." he said, forgetting about our order and leaning on the counter towards us.

"I'm just fine, not much has happened in the past 6 years. How bout you?" She had her flirting face on.

I went up to her ear and whispered, "Remember your husband? Nick, Nicky, Bird Brain, Stupid Face? Maryellen, you are not 14 years old anymore. You are married to a wonderful man who actually gives a crap about you." She didn't even look away from him when she shoved me away. I scoffed, "Fine. Oh, and Brady, the Maryellen I grew up with, sends you a message," I flipped him off. "Go fuck off." I turned around and stalked out of there leaving the two 'love birds' alone.

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"Nick, get your feathered ass back here now!" I yelled into the phone from the 'storage closet' when I got back to the lab.

"Dude, I'm not ready to go back yet. I don't know about you, but you not being here was like a rocket hitting me in the face."

"Look, if you're not here soon, Maryellen is going to be raped by this creepy stalker guy she used to like when we were kids. And I really don't want that to happen."

He sounded confused, "How did you get this number?"

Oh, my God. "Hello? I'm the Author! Did you even here a word I said?"

"I have faith in her. I know she's going to do the right thing. Now if you excuse me, its about 3 am, and I'm tired. Goodnight." And he hung up.

I slammed the phone down. Stupid fuck. I climbed back down the ladder and saw Warrick sitting with his head down on the table. Perfect, someone tall enough to take out Maryellen. "Warrick, darling," he slowly raised his head to see me crouched beside him. "We're gonna on an adventure."

"To where?" he yawned.

"A blowling alley."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warrick and I walked into Brosform's and looked around for Maryellen. We looked for maybe ten minutes and found them still talking at the farthest lane on the right.

"Wait," Warrick hesitated as I started to approach them. "Why do we have butt in? Looks like they're having a good time."

"Dude, if we don't butt in now, she's going to get raped by him." I whispered harshly at him.

"Oh, bitch gonna die!" His one step took me like three because he was going so fast. When he got to the table, he got down onto his knees, grabbed Mayellen by the legs, and threw her over his shoulder, with her kicking and screaming.

"Warrick sweety, would you kindly take her to the car?" He nodded and gave Brady the 'evil eye' before he left.I kept my eyes locked on Brady, "You're never gonna get her. I won't let you."

He just smirked, "We'll see about that."

I stared at him like I would to Nathan, "You can try, but you'll never win." Then, without looking back, I walked back out to the car.


	19. Chapter 19

"You know, you can't keep me here forever!" Maryellen yelled.

"I can until your husband gets his feathered ass back here. And until then you will not leave that chair." I yelled right back. "And Warrick, sweet, sweet Warrick," I said to the man sitting next to me on the couch. "I want to thank you for saving her-"

"-I really can't leave the chair, 'cause you chained me to it!"

"And for tieing her to that chair. I could never've held her down and tie her like you did. Quite brilliant of you."

"I have to get out of here eventually!" She shouted from my old office.

"Not 'till Festivus!" I yelled back, now getting up and going to the refigorator and taking out some bread and jelly.

I was reaching for the peanut butter in the cupboard when she shouted back at me, "Festivus was yesterday!"

"I meant next Festivus!"

"SERIOUSLY!? CAN I AT LEAST COME DOWN FOR THE PARTY?"

"Not unless your brain dead husband comes back. Otherwise your gonna stay up there!" I pulled out a knife out from a drawer, and I started to make Warrick one of the sandwiches I owed him.

"Oh come on! Just because you're eleven days older than me, you think you can treat me like a child?!"

"That's right. Oh, and even when Nick comes back, you two are going to marriage counseling! And I'm gonna be your therapist! And you're gonna like it!" I gave Warrick his sandwich and started to put everything away.

Greg came in when I was making Warrick's sandwich, and he said, "I am so glad I'm not in this. You would've killed me by now." I shot darts at him, and he flinched. "I'm gonna go talk to Maryellen, for a minute, you know, so you will stop looking at me like that." he said quickly, then pretty much ran up the ladder. He walked over to Maryellen and sat down on the box that was across from her. "So, what happened that made Anita tie you up?"

"Fred didn't tie me up, Warrick did."

"Ah, but still, why is she angry at you?"

She sighed, "I was talking to this guy that I used to go out with when we were in High School. And, while we were dating, he started to abuse me, and I told her about it. And she was maaaaad-"

"I WAS MORE THAN MAD. I WAS COMPLETELY PISSED OFF!" I shouted up to them.

"-So, yeah. She actually followed him until he was alone, and she jumped on him, and almost beat him to death. The only thing that stopped her, was a homeless man who had heard him yelping in pain and pulled her off."

"Why did you speak to this guy again? What, you think he changed?" Greg said, incredulous at how stupid Maryellen had been.

"Actually, yeah. He seemed so nice when we were talking, like he was when we had first started dating. I actually thought nothing of it."

"You know, she's just trying to protect you." Greg tried to reason with her.

"Like she tries to protect everyone else around here? I think not." She said, turning her chair away from him.

"You just don't get it. I would trust Anita with my life, because I have many times." She turned back to him with a weird confused look on her face. "Yeah, remember when the Lab blew up on me? She was with me every second when I was in the hospital. You know, in fact, she was in the Lab with me when it blew. She actually tried to push me out of the way so I wouldn't get hurt. You know why no one ever found out? It's because she had somehow gotten up on her own, and ran straight here, so no one would know, and that they could focus on my wounds and not hers, because she thought I was more important to them than she was. When she had arrived at the hospital, I had pretty much forced her to get checked out because I knew she got more of the blast than I did." he kind of got this sad look on his face, remembering what had happened. "You know, I never knew how bad she got hurt until that rainy day when she had to change her clothes at my apartment. She's still even more scratched up than I am."

"You talk about Anita like she's a queen. Why?" Maryellen asked, a suspiciously scandelous tone in her voice.

"Because, she has always been there for me. And, I love her because of that." Greg stated, with a dreamy sound in his voice.

"So, it's not because of her brains, or looks, or even personality?" Maryellen was now getting sketchy on the whole couple thing between Greg and I.

"No, it all of the above! I love all of her, everything about her. I just love her." Greg was smiling. Until he told her, "But, the weird thing is, I still love Carly."

'Oh, no,' Maryellen thought right when Greg said it. 'Nito was right.'


	20. Chapter 20

The rest of the day wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Maryellen calmed down long enough to be untied and go to the musical. Nick had called her and told her that he missed her, and that he was coming home soon. And she was relitively happy about it. Everyone made it to the musical, and as far as I know, they enjoyed it. Except Grissom, but Grissom is weird and we don't try to understand him, especially since Sara went away. Right after the cast and I took out last bow, I pretty much ran to get the dress I have to wear in the dream sequence of the Tango Maureen, and change into it. I pulled my coat over it, and met Greg at the door that leads into the lobby.

"Ready?" I asked, giving him a smile.

He was in shock for a second, for he had never seen me in a dress before, "Um, yeah, let's go." he walked me to his car and opened and closed my door for me. We were silent during the ride to the lab. When we got there, we saw that the breakroom had been cleared of everything except for a table which had refreshments on it and a place for a band in the farthest left corner of the room. I didn't know Ecklie knew how to spend money!

"Oh my God, you look amazing!" The shrill voice of my twin echoed in my head for a minute. "I didn't know you could pull off a dress!"

I touched my head, "You know, you giving me a frickin' migraine!"

Maryellen rolled her eyes, "I haven't seen you in a dress since the MUD dance!"

"Again, with the frickin' migraine."

She looked over at Greg and beamed, "Greggo, you look dashing in a suit."

He got a charming smile on, "Why, thank you. And I must say, you look beautiful yourself." she kind of giggled, and went to talk to other people.

About five minutes later, Carly went up to the microphone and said, "Merry Christmas everybody! Now, I am so happy to present our entertainment for this evening, Justin Timberlake!" she started off the clapping that brought him and who I was guessing was his band out to the pre set up area.

"Hello everyone, yeah, I'm Justin Timberlake. And we're going to start off with my lovely wife's personal favorite." he nodded to the band, and they started.

_I'm bringing sexy back,_

_Them other boys don't know how to act_

_I think you're special what's behind your back_

_So turn around and I'll pick up the slack_

_Take 'em to the bridge_

I smiled as Greg pulled me onto the dance floor. He spun me into his chest, having me face the same way he was, and we started to shift to the beat.

_Dirty babe_

_you see these shackles baby I'm you slave_

_I'll let you whip me if I miss behave_

_It's just that no one makes me feel this way_

_Take 'em to the chorus_

I laughed when Greg started to do the robot. I smacked his arm playfully, and he smiled. He fooled around the rest of the song, and he just had to pull me into it. He grabbed my waist, picked me up, and spun me around.

"What was that for?" I smiled when he put me down.

"Heat of the moment," he said apologetically. The next song was a slow song. "May I have this dance?" he held out his hand, and I saw the band of my ring on his finger.

"You can have every dance," I said back to him, giving him my right hand. He looked down and saw the diamond ring he had bought a year and a half ago. This time when he spun me, it was slower, more relaxed. When we faced eachother, we got as close as possible, which is hugging. We were turning to the music, and even when the song ended, we still kept that pace.

I had closed my eyes and smiled when Greg asked, "Are you Fred?"

"Yeah, why?" I answered him, knowing what he was going to say.

"Well, Maryellen has reffered to you as 'Fred'."

"We've been Fred and George for years. I don't even notice the difference from my own name anymore." We stayed quiet after that. After a minute, I opened my eyes, and to find out where I was facing, and it turned out to be the door. Two men standing in it made me raise my head. "I'll be right back." I said to him, pulling away, and walking briskly towards the door. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

"We're looking for Anita Strain." the taller one of them said.

"You've got her." I said back to them.

"M'am, General Strain was killed in a bombing yesterday, at the base. There were no survivors." The other one handed me a flag in a trianglular shaped case.

"But, he was stationed in Austin." I said, receiving the flag.

"Somehow, the enemy found the base. I'm sorry. He folded that himself. He said to specifically give it to you. M'am," They saluted me, and left.

My whole world came crashing down, but no tears came. I hugged the flag as tight as I could. Without knowing what I was doing, or where I was going, I slowly walked away. Somehow, I made it out the door, and into the parking lot. I looked up from the ground, and went to my car. I always keep a bag under the passenger seat with an extra set of clothes in it. I got that bag, and quickly changed (in the car) into the shirt and jeans. When I got out, and picked up the flag from the driver's seat, I turned around to find Greg standing there.

"I'm guessing you're not going back in," he said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Not tonight." I said, also getting my coat from the back seat.

"Where are you going?" he said, as I walked away, and he followed.

"Dunno, maybe a motel or someplace, just not here." I stopped when he touched my arm.

"Stay with me." he said, with a pittying look on his face.

"I'm not going to put you out, Greg." I said, turning around to face him, still clutching the flag to my chest.

"You won't," he put out his hand. "Just, come, and stay with me."

With hesitaion, I grabbed his hand.

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"No! I won't sleep in the bed," I yelled at him.

"Well, I won't either." Greg answered back.

"I am not going to let you sleep on the couch! The only way that I'm going to sleep in that bed is if you're in it too. Becuase I will not be putting you out." I crossed my arms and stared him down.

"Is that the only way?" I nodded. "Fine." I had a slight smirk on my face. He went into the bedroom and shouted, "You can borrow some pajamas if you want. It's supposed to get down to the mid thirties tonight."

"Thank you." I said back to him. I laid the flag safely on the kitchen counter, away from everything.

Without my knowledge, Greg had come out of his bedroom, and came to stand behind me. "What happened to him?"

"I'm not ready yet."I said back to him, turning around and facing him.

"Okay. Here," he handed me some pajama pants and a tee shirt.

"Thank you." I left for the bathroom to change. When I came out and went into the bedroom, he was already in it. I got in on the left side, because he was laying on the right, almost to the edge. I turned to him, and said, "Greg," he turned over to face me. "Why can't I cry for my brother?"

"Come here," he opened his arms, and I crawled over to be enveloped by him.

"Why can't I cry for him?" I said harshly into his shoulder.

"I think you're madder at the people who did this, than you are sad at his death."

I looked up at him, "How can that be?"

"Well, it has been know to happen to people when their loves one's-"

I cut Greg off, "No I mean you actually being right." when I saw him roll his eyes, I added, "just kidding." We were quiet for a while, him still holding me. Then, after ten minutes, I said, "Greg," he grunted in reply, "My brother's dead." All of a sudden, tears came flowing down from my eyes. Feeling a warm wet spot on his shoulder, he rubbed my back soothingly until we fell asleep.


	21. Chapter 21

"_Common, Lieutenant!" General Strain shouted over the bomb explosions, from behind the rubble of what once was a house._

"_Sir," I shouted back to him. "I have to go back to get something important!"_

"_You get your ass over here now, Lieutenant! That's an order!" He replied._

"_Yes, sir!" I waited behind another rubbled house until the bombs stopped for a minute, then I sprinted to the house where General Strain was. I was about two thirds of the way there, when I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I looked down, and I saw a small hole with a stream of blood flowing down from it. I looked up at him, rolled my eyes back, and fell face forward._

"_Anita!" he screamed, jumping from where he was and running over to me. He picked up my body, and went as fast as he could with the extra weight back over to the house where he was. He flipped me over onto my back, and held my head. "Come on, Anita." he said, rocking back and forth. "I know you're stonger than a little bullet. Come on, wake up."_

_I just barely opened my eyes, "Justin," I chocked out. "Justin," _

"_I'm right here Anita, I'm right here." He said._

_I contorted my face in pain, "It burns." I said, blood starting to come out from my mouth. "Justin," I said, fading. "I love you."_

"_I love you too," he said, a tear falling from his face and down to mine. My breathing stopped, and my eyes went blank. He started to breathe heavily through his teeth, and he became furious, "Bastards," he said under his breath. He picked me up again (wedding style) and walked me over the rubble, and to the place where some of my blood had puddled. "YOU BASTARDS!" Justin shouted as one of the enemies helicopters hovered over him and the next thing he knew, there was a loud and long whistle..._

My eyes shot open. It was just a dream. Thank God it was just a dream. I took a deep breath, and sat up in the bed I was in. This was Greg's room, but where was Greg? I got out of the bed, and walked to the door, which was slightly ajar. I looked out the crack, and saw him in the kitchen making breakfast. He was making sausage, and pouring cereal. I came out of the bedroom, went into the kitchen, and grabbed the orange juice out of the refrigerator. I set it on the counter, and got two glasses from the cupboard next to him. We didn't speak as I got the drinks, and Greg put out the cereal bowls (filled with Cocoa Puffs) and put the sausage on their plates.

I was confused, "Greg," I said when he sat across from me at the island in our normal arrangement. "You didn't make eggs."

"You told me that you were lactose intolerant, and that eggs upset your stomach. So I didn't make them." he shrugged his shoulders, and I went back down to my breakfast. He handed me the plate with two sausages on it, and I took my one, and put it on a smaller plate. "So, did you sleep well?" he said, looking down at his cereal, and picking up a spoonful.

"Not really." I said, not looking up from my cereal.

"Did you have a nightmare?" He looked up at me. I felt his eyes on me, so I looked up back at him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did."

"Was it about Justin?" Now he was pressing the issue.

"Yeah."

"Wanna talk about it?" he had a sympathizing look in his eye.

I went back to my cereal, "No." I ate the last spoonful. "Not yet."

"I'll be here when you are." he pushed his emty bowl away, and started to cut up his sausage patty.

We were quiet until we both finished and started to clean up. "What time is it?" I asked, putting the now clean dishes away.

"About eight in the morning." Greg answered looking at his Folex.

After we finished cleaning up, I said to him, "Do you still have that set of clothes I left here?"

"Yeah, it's in the closet." he turned away from the sink where he was washing his hands and nodded towards the bedroom. I quietly slipped back towards the bedroom. But, when I was halfway there, I turned back, got the flag, and then went back into the bedroom. I placed the flag on the bed and took my stuff out of the closet. After I had gotten dressed, I looked at the back of the case. Screws. I sighed, fine. I took a small pocket knife out of my left pocket, and flipped out the miniature screwdriver. I carefully undid each screw, and placed them on top of Greg's dresser. I took off the back to find the envolope that I had been expecting for years. It read 'Anita' in Justin's amazing penmanship. I opened it, and took out a letter and a Master Card.

_Dear Anita,_

_Guess what? I made it. You know it was my dream to get to Arlington. And I never want to see you here. Ever. Which is why you have the Master Card. I want you to take it, get as drunk as possible, and forget about what happened to me. I want you to remember the good times, and only the good times. So, get Maryellen, go to the nearest bar possible, and drink until you think that the world is a better place. Cause it's not, and you know that._

_Keep drinking till the glass goes dry,_

_Justin Strain_

Great, I thought picking up the card and screwing back on the back. Now I have to steal Greg's car, and get Maryellen.


	22. Chapter 22

"Thanks for driving me in, Greg," I said maybe an hour later as Greg drove us to the Lab. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem. You need anything, I'm here for you." he smiled when he looked away from the road for about two seconds. After two minutes, we were parked at the Lab. "Why don't you get your things, and I'll wait here for you?"

"Greggy," I put a pout on and spoke in a sad voice, "will you get my laptop and files? I don't wanna go back in."

He took the bait of my pouting face, "Okay," He was about to take the keys out of the ignition.

"Wait," he stopped. "Leave the AC on?"

He nodded, "Sure." he got out and said right before he closed the door, "I'll be right back." He smiled, turned around and walked towards the Lab.

"Too bad I won't be," I murmured to myself. 'Common, almost there,' I thought as he slowly reached the door and went in. "I'm sorry, my friend," I slid into the drivers seat, and took off. Maryellen lived a mere ten minutes away, so I was there in no time. I stopped in front of her house and started honking the horn. "MARYELLEN!" About ten seconds later a bed-headed George popped her head out of a second story window.

"What...the...heck...are...you...doing? It's 10 in the bloody morning." She looked tired, even from the road.

"Get in the car!"

"Where are we going?" she said becoming slightly interested.

"Out drinking!"

Immediately she shouted back, "Stay right there! I'll be down in a minute!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Do you normally drink when you're upset?"

"Why do you care?" I said blanly sitting upside down on a black, 70's style couch.

"It's my job to care. And I'm sorry if I actually want to do my job." He said sarcastically.

I looked at him blankly, "You call what you have a job? You do nothing! You just sit in your chair and listen to people's problems. I used to do that; in a chair! I used to listen to all of there problems! But no, not anymore." I closed my eyes. "I hate you."

"I get a lot of that." he said, still as calm as he had ever been.

"Well look at you," I said sitting up and facing him. "You and your caterpillar. Your black hair and unemotional self. You think that just because you have a peice of paper signed by someone important, that you can tell people if they're crazy or not. I mean, you're the reason why I'm here!"

"I did not make you come here. The people at Desert Palm made you come here."

"Dr. Sydney, the man in 112 is calling for James again," a lady said when she opened the door to the room where two of us were talking.

He turned to her, "Thank you, Terra." He turned back to me and gave me a half smile kind of thing. "Well, now would be a good time as any to take a break."

"Great, lets break until I get to go home," I said, which only made him laugh.

"I'll be right back. Hey, why don't you call them? Maybe get something's off of your chest. Think about it," he said, backing out of the doorway. I didn't move much while he was gone, I just readjusted myself on the couch so that I was actually laying down. He came back about five miutes later. "Did you call them?"

"Do I ever?"

"I brought you some water," He handed me a bottle of water. "And and apple," he tossed it, and I caught it, only because it was going to hit my face. "You know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away,"

"So, now you're calling yourself a doctor? No, you are not a doctor. You know who a real doctor was? Gilbert Grissom was a real doctor, Albert Robbins was a real doctor, they were real doctors. Because they actually helped their patients. Unlike you, who tries to help people who don't even need his help!" I shouted at him.

"Are you sure you don't need my help? Not even a little bit?" Sydney taunted.

"Look, just because you think I'm a nut, doesn't mean I am one."

"Anita, please-" he started, but I was getting too out of control.

"No Sydney, I don't belong in a fucking nut house." I stood up and looked him face to face. "I belong with them! Because they actually need me! Here, I'm just a vegetable. I have no purpose! I need something to do!" I grabbed his collar and brought him nose to nose. "Give me something to do."

He calmly said, "Why don't you tell me why we're here."


	23. Chapter 23

It all started when we were at the bar...

Maryellen and I walked in and pretty much saw everybody we have ever know there, and some that we didn't know personally. I mean, I think we were being set up or something, because when we walked inside, we saw the main Harry Potter cast, our 7th grade Social Studies teacher, Nick, and a strange man in a mask, I think he might've been the Phantom, but I can never be sure. Or it could've been Batman, still don't know. So, we walked over to the table where our old Social teacher was, and he didn't sound happy about us being there.

"Burns, Notlef," he said, not looking up from his beer.

"Cerrone," We answered him, sitting across from him.

"Why are you here?"

"We live in Vegas, what's your excuse?" we said in unison.

"I felt like a vacation, so sue me." he took a long drink which emptied his glass.

"Rough morning?" Maryellen asked, signaling for the bartender.

"You won't know the half of it."

"Another beer, bottle of whiskey, two glasses, leave the bottle." I told the bartender who nodded.

"Common Mr. C, let us in on the dirty little secret." Maryellen smiled.

"Notlef, have I ever told you anything? No. And I'm sure as hell not going to start now." he took the beer from the bartender, and we got our glasses and bottle.

"Please, Cerrone? I promise I'll never ever talk to you again, if we ever see eachother again. Ever." I begged as I filled George's and my glasses with cheap whiskey.

"Is that a promise, Burns?"

"Forever and ever, sir." I said as we clinked glasses.

"Alright, I guess I'll let you two in on it."

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"You know what, I'm tired of talking. I'm tired of being here. Just let me get on with my life." I told him, acting calm like he had been.

"The sooner you tell me what's really bothering you, the sooner you can leave." Sydney said, smiling in his chair, looking all smug and everything.

"What? You think that just because you say your a doctor, I'm going to tell you everything between now and two months ago? Well, think again." I said, closing my eyes and wanting to fall asleep.

"They called, you know. Yesterday. Wanted to know how you're doing."

I opened my eyes and got an angry tone in my voice. "You do realize that they can't possibly call from the grave. Everyone is dead, so how can they possibly want to know how I'm doing?"

Sydney's eyes became glassy, "Not everyone's dead. There are surviv-"

"No." I cut him off, as I rolled off the couch and stood infront of him. "Everyone is dead. Least they'd be better off."

"Why are you so upset that the four people that you cared about the most are still alive?" he questioned, a suspicious glare in his eyes.

"Because they are better off dead than the condition they're in now." I spat at him from the couch where I reclaimed my spot.

"What do you mean 'condition'? I just talked to them yesterday."

"No, correction," I said sternly, now pointing at him. "You talked to Catherine yesterday. Nick is too freaked out to talk to anyone but Catherine right now. They both have a few bumps and scratches, but nothing serious. Maryellen's in a coma, still don't know if she's gonna come out. Greg has four broken ribs, his left leg is broken in three places, and he sprained his right wrist. And right now, he can't stop thinking about where I am, and hoping that I'm going to be okay; and I'm here thinking about where he is, and hoping that he's going to be okay." A tear rolled down my face when I brought up Greg.

Sydney was quiet while he took out his cell phone from his shirt pocket, put it on the table between us, and slid it over to me. "Why don't you call them? Maybe talking to them will get you out of this funk that you're in."

I now had my knees tucked up to my chest and was hugging them, "If I call them, are we done?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "For the day."

I pondered it for a few minutes, "Give me the phone."


	24. Chapter 24

"Alright, I guess I'll let you two in on it." Cerrone said, beckoning us closer.

"Hey, hey hey man," a **very** drunk Tom Felton slurred when he came up and put his arm around Cerrone. "I know how you feel. I mean," he started to tear up, "If I was bald too, I would be in the same position, drinking until I ran out of money. Dude, I feel for you, I really do" He hugged him, and started to cry on his shoulder.

"Common Tommy, let go of the nice man, and we'll get you some ice cream." A tall man with short brown almost red hair, and brown eyes said, whilst trying to pry Tom off of Cerrone. "I am so sorry about this, he could never hold his liquor." The man apologized smiling at the Maryellen and I.

"It's okay," I said, helping him finally unhitch Tom from Mr. C, who didn't really care one way or the other. "I'm sure we've all done this at least once or twice."

"Eight times," Maryellen said loudly, rising her glass in my honor.

"Hey," I retailiated, turning back to her. "The last five times were you." I turned back to him and stuck out my hand. "I'm Anita Burns."

He smiled and shook my hand, "James Phelps. Hey, Oli?" he called, just turning his head. Another man who exactly like James came over, and James heaved over Tom into his twin's arms. "Can you take Tommy boy here, and get him some medicine?"

"Medicine?" I questioned him, now unsure of my first thoughts about him.

"Yeah, all it is, is we give him stronger booze to help him pass out faster." James said, turning back to me.

"Oh," I pondered it. "I never thought of that before." Then, after watching Tom stumble around, I asked, "Hey, out of curiosity," We turned to face eachother. "How many has he had?"

James went and retrieved Tom's beer bottle. "Almost one."

"Hey," I said when he turned away from the ackward silecnce that folled his last statement. "Why don't you come sit at our table? Just as long as Tom doesn't hug Mr. C again. He's not in the mood for any contact with another person right now."

"Sure, I-I-I'd love to." he spurted out.

We turned to the table because it was like, a foot behind us, and I said, "Maryellen, Mr. C," I pointed to James, "James Phelps."

He nodded his "hi's" and sat down next to me. "Why do you call him by his surname?" James asked under his breath, as Maryellen and Cerrone started another one of their 'Red Sox v. Yankees' fights.

"He was a teacher of mine, back in the day, and I just never took the time to learn his first name."

We talked about nothing for a while, until his twin came up to the table. "Hey, Jamie, we're gonna get goin. Tommy's been passed out for an hour or so, and we don't-" His gaze fell onto Maryellen. "Well, hello, and who might you be?"

She blushed, "Maryellen Notlef, and yourself?"

"Oliver Phelps," they shook hands. After they stared at eachother for a while, he asked, "Hey, you guys want to come with us?"

I said, "You gonna be okay, Mr. C?"

He nodded as he said, "Go, just leave." he waved us away.

"Absolutely, let's go." I said. James put out his hand for me, and as I was about to grab it, the man in the mask jumped from his bar stool and revealed himself.

"No one touches Lieutenant unless _I_ say so!" he shouted, standing between the two of us, facing James.

When I saw the man's face, I couldn't beathe or speak, but when I could speak again, I said in a whispered tone, "Justin?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Catherine? Catherine, come on, pick up." I said into the phone as it was connecting to Catherine's cell phone.

"Willows," her all too familiar voice said.

"Catherine?"

"Who is this?"

"It's me,"

"Anita?"

"Yeah,"

"Oh, my god, sweetie, how are you doing?" the mother in her coming out right away.

"I personally think I'm okay, but Sydney thinks otherwise."

"I never said that!" he said loudly, talking to Catherine.

"He totally said it," I said, starting to feel uncomfortable at what I was about to ask. "Um, how are you guys holding up?"

"Well, most of us are okay," she started. "But, some of us aren't mentally stable."

"Nicky?"

"Nicky."

"What happened to him?" I asked, not remembering.

"Well, he was in one of the corners of one of the labs, and the walls fell in, and it trapped him in like he was in a box."

"Oh, god," I thought of Nick in the box those years ago. "Is he okay?"

"Not really, won't talk to anyone but Greg and I, and he sits in the middle of the room, hugging his knees all day."

"Where are you guys anyway?"

"We're in a room at Desert Palms. I don't quite know why we're still here, but we are."

"They've kept you there for three weeks?"

"Yeah."

"Sydney, babe," I said, turning the mouth of the phone away. "Can you leave me alone? Catherine and I want to have a little girl talk."

"Of course, honeybunches." he ended with a fake happy-go-lucky voice.

After she left and shut the door, I immediately said, "Cath, I'm busting out."

"Anita, don't be stupid.Wait, did you call him babe, he call you honeybunches?

"Yeah, see, I'm his favorite patient, and he spends every single waking moment with me, and it's so easy to annoy him, so I call him sweet names, and replies with sarcastic coments; it's a very well formed relationship."

"You're not in love again, are you? Cause you should remember what happened the last time you were in love."

"Yes, I remember, and no I'm not. I think we're more of a match to eachother, no offence, but like you and Lindsey."

"And whose the rebel teenager?" she asked.

"Oh, totally me, I mean, common, who else could play Lindsey better than me?" She chuckled.

"Anita, please don't sneak out and get yourself into anymore trouble."

"Look, Catherine, I need to talk to Nicky, it's very critical."

"I can give him the phone-"

"No, it has to be done in person."

"Why?"

"Because I made him a promise, and I intend to keep it. I'll see you soon." I closed the phone. "Sydney, I'm done." He came back in. "What time is it?"

Sydney looked at his watch, "About ten minutes to lights out. Good night."

"Night." After he left the room, I did my nightly ritual of hygienics, except I didn't change into the required pajamas supplied by the 'nut house'. Instead I changed into the only pair of street clothes that I'm allowed to have. I got into my bed and patiently waited. Maybe after an hour of waiting, I heard the door open, and footsteps coming in and going out, opening my window on the way.

I'm sorry, my friend, I thought at the quietly fitted myself out the window.


	25. Chapter 25

"Don't even think about touching her!" two men shouted when Oliver went to take Mayellen's hand. The one I expected to see, which was Nick, obviously didn't surprise me, though it did surprise George. Yet, the one I never wanted to see again was there. Brady. Oh, was I gonna kill him. I could just tell that it was fight scene time.

"My, dear, dear Justin," I sweetly said, turning to the man who was supposedly dead. "Be a lamb and take Nicky here outside, and wait for me?" I gave him that look that told him I knew what I was doing, so he nodded. He grabbed Nick by the arm, and practically dragged him out the door. Then, I turned to James, oh, so adorable James, "James?" I smiled up at him and tried to be as cute as possible for him. "Do you think that you could take Oliver and Maryellen, and your gang outside and wait for me there?"

"Yeah," he said. He hesitated for a moment before he bent down slightly to give me a peck on the cheek.

I couldn't help blushing. But after I turned away from the door, my face became serious and angry as I stared at Brady. "You realise what we have to do, don't you?"

He went all Clint Eastwood on me, "Yeah, it's fight scene time. But I just have one question for you: Do you feel lucky punk? Huh? Do ya?"

"That was three."

"Whatever." he said. "Look, if we're gonna fight, we gotta have some music. I mean honesetly, what is a fight without fight music?"

"It's like a chase without chase music, which isn't even considered a chase at all." I searched through all of my pockets for a quarter. "I don't have a quarter for the jukebox. What about you?" we were still serious as we could possibly be.

"No. Damn. How are we gonna have music now?"

"Wait!" A man stood up. Apparently he had a cape on, and it was blowing heroically in the non-existant wind, inside of the bar. "I'm here to save the day."

"Grant?" I asked trying to see through the darkness.

"It is I, Grantus Fiegus, and I am here to save the day." he reached into his pocket and, like a cartoon character, pulled out a full sized jukebox.

"How is that going to help us?" Brady asked, looking at him like he was stupid. "We don't have money for a jukebox."

"Mine is free."

We both gasped at the same time. "You're my hero." I said. "Pick a good fighting song, will you? I can't stand it when I'm trying to fight with a slow song on."

Brady nodded his head. "I totally understand."

Grant turned towards the jukebox, and was looking for maybe 30 seconds before he pushed play and said, "How's this?"

It took a second for the song to start playing and I groaned, "Common Grant! _Thriller_? You've got to be kidding me!" I turned to Brady, "Can you fight to this?" And Brady shook his head.

"I can't fight to this! Pick a new song." He grumbled and turned away again.

This time it was Brady who complained at the song, "_How To Save A Life_? Common, _The Fray_ doesn't do hard core-"

"Yes they do! Grant put on _Little House_."

"_Little House_?" asked Brady who seemed confused. "That sounds like a country song."

"Just wait."

_She doesn't look, she doesn't see_

_Opens up for nobody_

_Figures out, she figures out_

_Narrow line, she can't decide_

_Everything short of suicide_

_Never hurts, nearly works_

As soon as the next verse started, which is when the hard-core stuff started, I threw the first punch.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was dark and cold. Just like every other night in Las Vegas. But that didn't matter, not now. Now was not the time for action, now was the time to watch. Her. Sydney thought all dramatic like as he sat in the surveillance room, reclining in his wooden chair on wheels with his feet up on the control panal desk thingy.

"Don't you ever sleep?" Terra said as she came in and sat down next to him, handing him a cup of coffee.

"Not while she's here." he replied, before taking a sip.

"Why is she even here? She seems as sane as you. Which is questionable sometimes, but still. Everyone's sanity is questionable sometimes. And yet, I still haven't seen anything wrong with her. It's been three weeks, Sydney. What the hell is she here for?" Terra seemed quite upset, Sydney could probably tell by the tone in her voice.

"I'm doing a favor for a friend. More specifically Catherine."he said

"What kind of favor?"

He slightly chuckled, "The kind where I talk to her and find out what's going on in that pretty little head of hers."

"How do you even know Catherine anyway?" she asked, wanting answers.

"I used to talk to her daughter, Lindsey. After she was kidnapped, she had a small mental break down, and apparently I was the closest therapist to them. I'll be right back." He got up and left her. She continued to watch the video from my room, and saw a tall shadow come in, open the window, and leave, and in like, two minutes Sydney casually walked back and sat down next to Terra.

She stared at him for a few minutes before he finally took his eyes away from the screen, "What?"

"What the hell was that?" she shouted, completely catching him off guard.

"What the hell was what?" he didn't quite understand why she was so upset.

"You just went in, opened her window and came out like nothing happened."

"Nothing did happen. It gets really warm in that room, so I open the window for her." He glanced back at the screen, and sighed. "I'll be right back. She's trying to escape." And once again, he left her, speechless as always.

-------------

I crouched really low in the bushes that were just left of my window. I moved very slow in the shadows, trying to avoid the spotlights that were moving over the grounds like they would if it were a prison. I had to keep as quiet as possible, you never know who might be standing right next to you. With the gentleness of a cat, I slowly moved to a corner of the building, where I could see the gate, it was just a mere hundred yards away. I could almost taste the sand outside those walls. All of a sudden, tall legs in black slacks covered my view.

"Common Anita, get out of the bushes." He sighed, now walking past me and going towards the bushes where I previously was. When he past me, I quickly came up behind him, pinned his arms down, and wrapped an arm over his neck.

I leaned over and whispered into his ear, "I'm sorry, my friend." Then, I let him go, and when he turned around, I punched him as hard as I could in the face. With him stunned, I ran as fast as I could towards the gate. Hundred yards...eighty yards...sixty yards...forty...common, common! Ten yards...And I'm out. I'm free. But I couldn't stop just outside the gate, I had to keep going. It was dark and cold, but I had to do it.

"Happy fucking birthday!" I heard Sydney shout at the gate. I stopped for a moment to see what he was going to do. He just stood there, watching. My conscience told me to go back, and be a good little girl. But I didn't listen, I kept running. Because Sydney didn't matter, not now. Now was not the time to observe, now was the time for action. Nick needed me. And like hell, I was going to let him down again.


	26. Chapter 26A

(A sweet conversation between the writers!!)

Cassie: Andres you have to swear whatever I write you can't delete!!

Andrea: -grumbles- No

-picks up Andrea's hand and puts it on the bible-

Cassie: Yes you will.

Andrea: -sighs- I will not Delete anything that my partner in crime writes.

Cassie: Now I can take over the world along with furbies!!

Andrea: -glares- Don't even joke about that

(End of that! Yeah Andrea didn't know how to wirte this scene and of course as you saw how much she trusts me she picked me to write it!! hehe. Another thing this is not in Anita's POV it's in Maryellen's POV for a change.)

I glared at the boy's as they brought me out of the bar. My ex boyfriend was fighting my best friend. Why couldn't I stay in there and laugh my ass off at the outcome and the fight?!

I looked at Nick and gave him a smile along with Oliver, "Guys I really need to go back in there. I forgot my purse, which had my money for drinks." I told them coming up with a lie, which they would fall for easily. Me with money to buy them drinks! It was simple logic to us girls.

"Be right back out," Nick told me trying to sound like he was in charge yet I saw that smile of his, which, I loved. He was looking forward to getting drunk.

"I will be right out." I told him giving him a kiss before I walked past the two boys back into the bar. My purse in hand.

I walked in just in time to see Anita land a nice punch on Brady. I had to laugh as I took a seat on the barstool. This was priceless it was almost a Kodak moment. I really needed a camera.

Brady quickly came out of his little dazedand landed a quick punch to Anita in the gut then an upper cut to her face. He really wasn't holding anything back at the moment. Anita was so going to kick his ass. Shouldn't we all know by now especially Brady that Anita doesn't lose a fight. Unless it's against me of course. Anita then grabbed a beer bottle and flung it at Brady's head, she missed her target. I had to throw my arms up in the air! How did she miss that shot?

"Anita you idiot!! That's a huge target!!" I yelled at ther laughing all the same. Brady turned to me to see if it was me watching. He smiled at me and went all macho looking thinking he was going to win. Anita saw this went over to him kicked him in the gut so hard he had to buckle over then she kicked him where the sun don't shine. "And that's a very small target. How did you miss his head?" I asked her laughing.

She came over to me laughing then hit the back of my head. "Didn't I ask you to leave?" she asked me trying to remain calm.

"Here," I said, reaching behind the bar and handing her a drink. "And I just needed to tell the guys I was getting my purse for money for drinks."

She raised an eyebrow with disbelief at my statement, "But you left with your purse."

"Exactly!! You should know. Bring up drinking and girls and they lose everything they got in college."

"Girls? Beer?" Grant asked coming up from behind the bar.

"Not here." Anita and I yelled at him. He frowned but went behind the bar probably to drink more hard liquor.

"He's going to be on the floor for a while." I said pointing over to Brady who was in the fetal position on the floor whimpering.

Anita looked at him and shrugged, "We had to fight."

"He's the leader of the Furby Empire." I told her drinking my own beer.

She almost fell to the ground but then immediately looked at Brady, "Bitch!" she yelled at him.


	27. Chapter 26B

It felt great to be free. I was finally out, and in the desert. But civilization wasn't too far away, maybe a mile or so from where I was now. And I had no idea where the fuck I was, but I could see the illumintaion of the strip up against the dark sky. It must've been at least two hours since I saw Sydney, but I don't regret leaving. Something else I don't regret was taking that bottle of water that Sydney had given me earlier. Now, what Sydney didn't know, was that I had been planning this since day one. That whole 'I ain't telling you shit, so bugger off' was just an act. I actually liked Sydney, he's pretty cool. I thought more as I stumbled on. With each step the strip became more inviting. '10, 867; 10, 868; 10689; 10, 690...' I counted to myself as I practically fell onto the first road I had seen in three hours. If I follow the road, I should get somewhere. When I looked down the right, I saw the sun coming up. And when I looked to the left, there was the city. Stupid face owes me his entire life right now. Oh, is he going to hate being my bitch. And so, I started down the left road. My brain was screaming for me to stop, and take a break, but I knew that if I sat down, I would never get up. And so, I continued on my walk. The only thing that kept me going was the thought of how Nick would react, when I would do what he intstucted me to do. Of Greg, and how wonderful it would be to see that smile on his face again. Of Catherine, and her hugging Lindsey for the first time in weeks. Of the people that meant to me the most, to see them again, would make my world.

After a while, an SUV passed by, and slowed down a few yards ahead of me. When I had reached the open passenger window, I said to the lady who was driving it in a very hoarse voice, "Can I help you?"

"How long you been out here, sweetheart?" she answered my question in a southern accent.

"What time is it?" I leaned up against the side of the SUV.

"About 6 am. You wanna ride?" she asked, unlocking the side door.

"A ride, would be an amazing thing." I said, and I opened the door, and heaved myself up into the seat. The lady then, closed the window, and drove on. The air conditioning was heaven in my mind.

"Here," she said, reaching down into the mesh basket between the two seats. "Have some water, you're looking dehydrated." She handed me a bottle of water, and I took it greatfully. "I'm Wendy, by the way. Wendy Plum."

"Nita Burns. I would shake your hand, but, you know, you're kinda driving." she chuckled.

"So, what were you doing so far from the strip?" she asked.

"I had a fight with my boyfriend, and he he kicked me out of his car at about midnight, and I've been walking ever since." I lied. I was actually amazed at how fast I had thought it up.

"So, you've been walking on this road for six hours? How did you not go mad?" Wendy joked, completely falling for it.

"Honestly, I don't know."

"Where you headed?"

"Do you know where Maple Valley apts is?" She nodded. "You can just drop me off there."

"Do you live there?" she asked, now entering the city of Las Vegas.

"No, but my brother does. And he gave me a key." I was feeling a lot better now that I had cooled off, and replenished my thirst. I reached down, took my left chuck taylor off, and grabbed the key from a compartment I had made into the sole.

When I brought the key out, she spotted my ring, "Where you two getting married?"

I looked down at it, remembering the good times, "No. It's more of a promise ring. See, when I left for college, he gave it to me to so that I would miss him so much that I had to come back."

"How long were you gone?" she asked glancing over for a second.

"Not very long. Somewhere around four months. They actually kicked me out for being too smart."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah," I said as we pulled in to the apartment complex. "Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me." I directed her to infront of Greg's door. We shook hands before I opened the door, and exited the vehicle. The key fit into the lock with ease, and I opened the door as she drove away. After I had entered and closed the door, I breathed in deeply. It still smelled like him. The next thing I did, was take a shower to get that horrible dirty feeling from the dust and sand. I didn't think Greg would mind, so I borrowed more clothes. And by clothes, I meant like spider-man pajama pants and a plain t-shirt. When I climbed into the bed, for I was exauhsted, I grabbed a pillow and hugged it. Even without doing it on purpose, I smelled the pillow, and it reaked of him. In a good way of course. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but all I could see was his face, contorted in pain, and a giant explosion behind him. I let silent tears fall, and I cried myself to sleep.

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"_Dudsies!" Greg shouted with glee to both JT and Hodges. "This is going to be so entertaining. Playing _Guitar Hero _in the Lab? They said it couldn't be done! But what fools these mortals be! For we are JT, Hodges and Greg!" he finished his speech._

_JT and Hodges looked at eachother with smirks. They all had one or five shots before deciding to do this. "Okay," JT statred listing the rules for the game. "We each will play the same song. The one who gets the highest score will have the other two do whatever pops into the highest one's head. Whether it be 'kiss Grissom' or even 'grab Catherine's ass'. Is that clear?" They nodded once, and plugged the Wii into the television of the break room. They started to play, and since they were almost drunk, they didn't get very high scores, the highest was around a thirty. And, because JT is a dumbass, he wins the first song._

_Now, his brilliant idea for the other two to do was, "Okay guys, you both have to find something under the fume hood in the DNA lab, and you have to set it on fire!"_

_And Hodges, being the dumbfuck he is, actually goes and does it. Yet, the twist behind his maddness is that he leaves it under the fume hood with other explosive chemicals! Now, when he gets back to the break room, Greg finally gets out of his whole 'drunk' thing and realizes what Hodges has done. "Hodges, where's the thing?"_

_And as soon as Hodges starts to say, "Oh fucking shit." There's an explosion. Now Greg, foreseeing what was going to happen before Hodges said anytihng, started to run for his life. The explosion got the entire Lab. Screams of innocent people could be heard over the explosion._

_Greg was thrown from where he was to around the AV lab which was maybe thiry feet away. When he picked his head up, he heard Catherinescreaming for help. He called out to her, "Catherine!"_

"_Greg! Where are you?" She shouted in distress._

_He looked around, "AV lab! You?"_

"_Around the corner. Please! Nick and I need help!"_

_He took a deep breath, "I'm coming!" So, he army crawled over to where he could see Catherine. "Are you okay?"_

"_I'm fine, but Nick is trapped!" He nodded, and he went over to Nick who was freaking out at the fact that he was trapped again. So, Greg grabbed one of Nick's shoulders, and started dragging him out with everything he had left. After he had pulled Nick out, he was spent, he had nothing left. He rolled over onto his stomach, trying to catch his breath. But he didn't have time, because a few seconds after he had rolled onto his stomach, a tile from the ceiling fell onto him, crushing him. He groaned in pain, starting to lose focus. He tried to concentrate on Catherine, but he couldn't. So he tried thinking of me, of all the good times we had. He started to think of the first time we kissed, and he blacked out._

I suddenly woke up in a sweat. I was breathing heavily. I shouldn't think of that. It does not due to dwell on the past. To calm myself down, I started to think about when I see Catherine again. When they all get better, we can be together again. Just like it was before. But I stopped my self. No! If I think too much about the future, I'll forget about the present. There's no way I could get to sleep again. So, I got up, grabbed the blanket from the bed, and went out to the couch. There, I got comfortable and turned the television on. I had no idea what station I was on, but I see Ryan Reynolds crouched in a bathroom taking pictures, and my mind automatically thinks, _Van Wilder?_ But, I thought why not, and kept it on. I started to feel tired again, so I started to doze off. I tried to look at the pictures on the wall behind the televison, and I saw one that I had never seen before, but I remember. It was of Greg and I, sleeping on the floor of the break room wrapped up in a blanket. Was that really eight months ago? It seemed like years.


	28. Cast Party pt1

Andrea: Alright, dudsies, because this chapter marks the one year anniversary of this story, my twin, Cassandra and I, have decided that instead of a normal chapter, we are going to be having a cast party.

Cassandra: That's right. And everyone who has shown up in the story (like Nathan, Brady and Cerrone) will be using their real names. So, when we're talking to Eric, we'll be talking to Greg.

Andrea: So, y'all enjoy, and don't get too drunk.

"Happy Easter!" Eric shouted, then blowing one of those noise maker things.

"Oh, Eric," Marg Hellenberger shook her head. "Please don't start acting like Greg."

"Who said I act?" he joked, then left to go find alcoholic beverages.

He didn't have to go too far, because right then, Grant stumbled in dragging a huge keg, "I found the Beer!"

Both Cassie and I looked at eachother with a scared look, "Here we go again," she said to me, and I just shook my head.

"How is it that Grant doesn't change? Even when he's in character?" I asked her, just watching him and Eric go at the keg like a fat kid on a cupcake.

"Well, he was serious once, remember?" I shook my head. "You know, the time where we almost died."

"Well, which time? I mean, we almost died like 18,000 times over the past like, seven years." I replied back to her.

"You know, the time with the semi..."

"Oh yeah! I totally remember now. He started crying! I remember seeing it-"

"Dude, we were unconcious." She interrupted me.

"But...it was...in the script-thingy..." I trailed off. "Look, all I remember was that he cried!"

"Andi, just let it go." she said calmly, taking a sip from the beer she had the whole time. "Hey, Tommy!" she called over to Tom Felton who was chatting with George Eads and Franklin Class (Brady). "Wanna dance?" he nodded to her, and she left me to go dance to the sounds of _Sexy Back_ with him.

I, yet again, shook my head when George came over, Franklin following him. "Hey Andi,"

"George, Franklin," I nodded to both of them. "So, how are you enjoying the party?" I sipped my mineral water.

"It's fine. But, uh, I think we need to liven things up a bit. I mean, look at Susan (Carly) and Billy, it's totally dead."

"So go party with Eric and Grant. They seem to be having a good time." I cringed at the sight of them attacking the keg. "Or, you could go sedate them, for the sake of the children."

"What children?" Franklin asked, scoffing.

"Exactly," I said all dramamtically. Then I got off the stool I was on, and went over to the jukebox on the other side of the bar. I looked through for songs that would get someone dancing, and I found one. Even though I didn't like the selected song at all, other poeple did.

_Soulja Boy off in this hoe  
Watch me crank it  
Watch me roll  
Watch me crank dat Soulja Boy  
Then Superman dat hoe_

Amazingly, people did start to dance. Also, they started to enjoy themselves, which is what I was going for. I went over to the bar, set my empty bottle on the bar, and went outside into the cool Las Vegas night. It was raining, and hard, but it felt so good. Like it was cleaning off all of the smoke and grime from the bar. I closed my eyes, tilted my head up towards the sky, and just stood there, maybe ten yards from the bar, and let the rain cascade over me. But, all of a sudden, it stopped. I opened my eyes in confusion, and saw a black umbrella above me. I followed the arm that was holding it, to the face of none other than Ryan Reynolds himself.

"Not your kind of party?" he asked, a smile on his face.

"I'm not the partying type." I told him, a smile now on my own face.

"Yet you are the bar fighting type? I find that highly abnormal." he put down his arm so he could hug me.

"I'm so glad you could come." I told him whilst still in the hug.

"And why shouldn't I be able to come? I mean, I was still in the story, if only for a second."

We let go of each other when Cassie stuck her head out of the door and shouted, "Andi, you better come in here! Grant and Eric just ordered hookers!" She then was dragged back in by Tom, who was just laughing.

I was in shock, "This entire cast is going to be punished and in damnation in hell for all eternity. And so, I'm going to walk away." And I did.

"And where will you walk away to?" He said, following me.

"I don't know, maybe a diner or something. Just, not here. And believe it or not, I don't drink alcohol." I said back to him, as he caught up, and once again put up the umbrella.

"Really? Because practically everytime you and Cassie are together in the story, you always find some way to get alcohol." He said, looking down at me, for I was about ten inches shorter than him.

"Well see, that's the thing. It's not real whiskey or beer. It's just water. Now that back there," I pointed over my shoulder. "That's real. What about you? Do you drink?"

"Not really. I mean I'll have one every month or so, but never more than that." He replied, putting his hand on the small of my back as we crossed a road. When we entered _Heidi's Hideaway_, he led me over to a booth, after collapsing his umbrella of course. So we sit down at the booth, and an older woman immediately comes up and hands us menus.

"Hey, Andi." she said in a motherly tone.

"Good evening, Heidi. How are you?" I said back, not paying attention to my menu.

"I'm just great, and yourself?" she took a quick glance at Ryan, and then smiled at me.

"I am good. Ryan this is Heidi, she owns the place. Heidi, this is my friend Ryan, he worked with me in the story." I introduced them like I knew she wanted me to.

"Nice to meet you," she nodded to him. "So, should we start off with drinks?"

"Sure, I'll have a coffee, regular." Ryan said, she wrote it down, and then turned to me.

"Um, I'll have hot apple cider, please?"

She nodded, "I'll be right back." and she left.

"Where's Andi?" George noticed as the party just started up.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her in like, an hour." Franklin said as he was just starting to get buzzed.

"Dude, we talked to her like, twenty minutes ago." George said, back to him, a look of 'wow' on his face.

"Oh. Nevermind then." he took another long drink, and motioned for the bartender to get him another one.

"Hey," Cassie said coming up to them. "Have you guys seen Andi? She was supposed to come in and take care of Eric and Grant."

"I don't know, I haven't seen her since she left." Franklin said, chugging the next beer.

"Wait, she left?" Cassie asked incredulously.

"Yeah, she went to the jukebox, put on a song, and then left." Gary Dourdan came out of nowhere, and practically scared the shit out of George, Cassie and Franklin.

"Don't scare me like that!" Cassie hit him playfully on the arm.

"Sorry, I just thought you might like to know." he said, slowly walking away towards the group of Marg, William, Susan, and Joshua (Nathan).

"Yeah," both James and Oliver said together, flocking over. "I saw her," James said, "outside. She was talking with that guy from _Van Wilder_."

"After you yelled to her about Eric and Grant," Oliver said, "She started to walk away, but he followed her. Don't know where they were going."

All of a sudden, Cassie gets this brilliant idea. Brilliant to her, annoying to me. So, she gets up on the bar, and shouts to the entire party. "HEY! EVERYONE! THE PARTY IS MOVING TO THE DINER!" many shouts and whistles erupted, and everyone piled out the door, and headed toward _Heidi's Hideaway_.

"Alright, that's two slices of apple pie with whipped cream." Heidi said, putting the two small plates infront of us and leaving.

"So," Ryan started, pouring a little cream into his mug and stirring it with a swivel stick. "Tell me about yourself."

"Well," I started, tracing the brim of my mug with my finger. "I was born in Buffalo, new York. My parent's died when I was very young, and I went to live with Grant, he's an old friend of the family. After I came of age, I dormed at UB for Forensics. After I got my Bachelor's, I searched everywhere for a job at a Lab. When I couldn't find one, I went to California with Grant to find something there. I got a small part as a patient on the show _Scrubs_, I was diagnosed with cancer, and I was shipped to another hospital. At the end of the season, I came back, I died and my character ended..." I trailed off as I saw a hord of people come to the door, and enter the hideaway.

"Hey, hey, hey. Andi's posse in the house!" A very drunk Eric and Grant shouted together. "Omygosh, Andi. You left," I nodded as if it was news to me. "We noticed, and we came here." Grant said, as if it was news to him.

"Really? You honestly came here?" Now, I was being mean and amusing myself.

"Yeah." he said, and patted him on the shoulder in pitty.

I turned to Ryan, who seemed to be about ready to laugh, "I am so sorry. I should have never dragged you into this."

"It's fine. Don't worry. Um," he said, pulling out his wallet and throwing money onto the table. "Why don't we resume at a later date, maybe." He gave me a sweet smile, and I couldn't resist.

"Sure. When is good for you?"

"How about after they leave?" he said scandalously.

"How about right now? In the park?" I suggested and he liked that idea. "I'll be right back then. If they try to talk to you, ignore them." I said, slipping out of the booth and pushing through the crowd to get to Heidi's little podium. "Hey, Heidi," I said in a hushed tone so only she could hear. "I need you to distract them so that Ryan and I can escape the pandamonium."

"I have just the thing." she got an evil look on her face, right before she said to the large goup, "Guys! If ya'll want to have your party here, it's cool with me, but ya'll got to take it in the back." Groans were heard. "There's beer in the back." the groans obviously turned into cheers, and everyone piled into the back room.

"Common," I said to Ryan, grabbing his hand and dragging him out the door. We ran down the street in a fit of laughs.

"Can you believe that? I mean, them just busting in on you at a diner? How crazy is that?" he said, out of breath as we neared the park.

"At least you didn't have to practically live with them for seven years. You don't know the crazy shit they're capable of." When we entered the park, we sat down at the nearest bench. We sat there until the sun started to rise.

"Great party, huh?" Ryan said, turning his head to look at me.

I smiled and looked over at him. "Yeah, great party." We continued to stare at eachother.

All of a sudden, just out of nowhere, Grant runs infront of us, butt naked, screaming in joy, "WHOOOOO!! BEER! GIRLS!"

After he passed, Ryan turned to me, asking, "Is that what you've put up with for seven years?"

I scoffed, "Pretty much. Except that I've seen pretty much everyone on the main cast naked. But they were all drunk." I reassured him.


	29. Cast Party pt2

Andrea: Okay, Dudsies, because my twin doesn't approve of the way I originally wrote the party scene, I will rewrite it with more partying in it.

Cassandra: Damn right you are!

Andrea: -looks evily at twin- Right. Okay, so once again, enjoy and don't get too drunk.

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"Happy Easter!" Eric shouted, then blowing one of those noise maker things.

"Oh, Eric," Marg Hellenberger shook her head. "Please don't start acting like Greg."

"Who said I act?" he joked, then left to go find alcoholic beverages.

He didn't have to go too far, because right then, Grant stumbled in dragging a huge keg, "I found the Beer!!"

Both Cassie and I looked at eachother with a scared look, "Here we go again," she said to me, and I just shook my head.

"How is it that Grant doesn't change? Even when he's in character?" I asked her, just watching him and Eric go at the keg like a fat kid on a cupcake.

"Well, he was serious once, remember?" I shook my head. "You know, the time where we almost died."

"Well, which time? I mean, we almost died like 18,000 times over the past like, seven years." I replied back to her.

"You know, the time with the semi..."

"Oh yeah! I totally remember now. He started crying! I remember seeing it-"

"Dude, we were unconcious." She interrupted me.

"But...it was...in the script-thingy..." I trailed off. "Look, all I remember was that he cried!"

"Andi, just let it go." she said calmly, taking a sip from the beer she had the whole time. "Hey, Tommy!" she called over to Tom Felton who was chatting with George Eads and Franklin Class (Brady). "Wanna dance?" he nodded to her, and she left me to go dance to the sounds of _Sexy Back_ with him.

I, yet again, shook my head when George came over, Franklin following him. "Hey Andi,"

"George, Franklin," I nodded to both of them. "So, how are you enjoying the party?" I sipped my mineral water.

"It's fine. But, uh, I think we need to liven things up a bit. I mean, look at Susan (Carly) and Billy, it's totally dead."

"So go party with Eric and Grant. They seem to be having a good time." I cringed at the sight of them attacking the keg. "Or, you could go sedate them, for the sake of the children."

"What children?" Franklin asked, scoffing.

"Exactly," I said all dramamtically. Then I got off the stool I was on, and went over to the jukebox on the other side of the bar. I looked through for songs that would get someone dancing, and I found one. Even though I didn't like the selected song at all, other poeple did.

_Soulja Boy off in this hoe  
Watch me crank it  
Watch me roll  
Watch me crank dat Soulja Boy  
Then Superman dat hoe_

Amazingly, people did start to dance. Also, they started to enjoy themselves, which is what I was going for. I went over to the bar, set my empty bottle on the bar, and went outside into the cool Las Vegas night. Now, being the amazingly awsome person I am, my absence was not noticed, and everyone was having a good time.And being the fact that this story belongs to Cassie and I, _Sexy Back_ played after _Soulja Boy_. Like we would play anything else.

"Hey, Sue," Billy said over the loud music. "Have you seen Jorja?"

"No," Susan practically shouted back to him. "She said she was coming, but I just don't know." he hung his head in sadness, and just kind of walked away. "Poor, Billy," she randomly said to Wally Langham who just happened to be standing next to her at the time. "I hope he doesn't go emo and kill himself."

"Dude," Wally said back to her, starting to head towards the party of Eric and Grant. "He's Billy Petersen, he can't die."

"True, true," she mused herself as Gary Dourdan walked in front of her, then behind the bar, and kneeled down. She cautiosly leaned over the bar to see what exactly he doing. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for my moment." he put simply.

"What moment?"

"When I can totally just pop in out of nowhere, and scare the shit out of someone."

"Oh," she said, turning away, then turning back. "You wanna beer?"

"Sure!" she motioned for the bartender, he slid one down to her, and she tossed it to Gary.

"HEY! GRANT!" Eric shouted for everyone to hear. "You know what we gotta do?"

"No, what we gotta do?" Grant had wide eyes, and slurring his words.

"We gotta call for some hookers!" Eric yelled, but only a few people heard that one.

"DUDE! Great idea!" Grant pulled out his cell phone and called his speed dial #1.

"Oh, God," Cassie thought as she saw and heard what they were doing. She felt her way to the door, opened it to find me and Ryan in the parking lot, and decides to shout, "Andi, you better come in here! Grant and Eric just ordered hookers!" Tom then came up behind her and dragged her back in by her waist, her just laughing on the way in. 'Wow' was my only thought.

The only thing that Cassie could do after the call was made, was to wait and see. And so she waited, and she laughed when she finally saw the outcome. For it was no actual hooker, it was the infamous Melinda Clarke or, as most of you people reading this know her, Lady Heather.

"Did someone call for me?" She said as she made her glorious entrance. Most of the men there started to whoot and howl at her. Cassie smiled, shook her head, and started over to where her 'husband' was.

"Where's Andi?" George noticed as the party just started up.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her in like, an hour." Franklin said as he was just starting to get buzzed.

"Dude, we talked to her like, twenty minutes ago." George said, back to him, a look of 'wow' on his face.

"Oh. Nevermind then." he took another long drink, and motioned for the bartender to get him another one.

"Hey," Cassie said coming up to them. "Have you guys seen Andi? She was supposed to come in and take care of Eric and Grant."

"I don't know, I haven't seen her since she left." Franklin said, chugging the next beer.

"Wait, she left?" Cassie asked incredulously.

"Yeah, she went to the jukebox, put on a song, and then left." Gary Dourdan came out of nowhere, and practically scared the shit out of George, Cassie and Franklin.

"Don't scare me like that!" Cassie hit him playfully on the arm.

"HAH! Sorry, I just thought you might like to know." he said, slowly walking away towards the group of Marg, William, Susan, and Joshua (Nathan).

"Yeah," both James and Oliver said together, flocking over. "I saw her," James said, "outside. She was talking with that guy from _Van Wilder_."

"After you yelled to her about Eric and Grant," Oliver said, "She started to walk away, but he followed her. Don't know where they were going."

All of a sudden, Cassie gets this brilliant idea. Brilliant to her, annoying to me. So, she gets up on the bar, and shouts to the entire party. "HEY! EVERYONE! THE PARTY IS MOVING TO THE DINER!" many shouts and whistles erupted, and everyone piled out the door, and headed toward _Heidi's Hideaway_.

So, the party moved out and onto the streets. Oh, and so many people were watching. I would have hated to have been the sober one in that group. Just immagine a huge party, everyone is shitfaced, walking down the streets of Hollywood, with no cops around. Dear God, everything was a mess. Eric and Grant were everywhere, oh my gosh. And when they found out where the party was heading, they started to go nuts. And they tried as hard as they could to run to the door, so that they could see their favorite waitress again.

"Hey, hey, hey. Andi's posse in the house!" A very drunk Eric and Grant shouted together as they came through the door. "Omygosh, Andi. You left," I nodded as if it was news to me. "We noticed, and we came here." Grant said, as if it was news to him.

"Really? You honestly came here?" Now, I was being mean and amusing myself.

"Yeah." he said, and patted him on the shoulder in pitty.

I turned to Ryan, who seemed to be about ready to laugh, "I am so sorry. I should have never dragged you into this."

"It's fine. Don't worry. Um," he said, pulling out his wallet and throwing money onto the table. "Why don't we resume at a later date, maybe." He gave me a sweet smile, and I couldn't resist.

"Sure. When is good for you?"

"How about after they leave?" he said scandalously.

"How about right now? In the park?" I suggested and he liked that idea. "I'll be right back then. If they try to talk to you, ignore them." I said, slipping out of the booth and pushing through the crowd to get to Heidi's little podium. "Hey, Heidi," I said in a hushed tone so only she could hear. "I need you to distract them so that Ryan and I can escape the pandamonium."

"I have just the thing." she got an evil look on her face, right before she said to the large goup, "Guys! If ya'll want to have your party here, it's cool with me, but ya'll got to take it in the back." Groans were heard. "There's beer in the back." the groans obviously turned into cheers, and everyone piled into the back room.

"Common," I said to Ryan, grabbing his hand and dragging him out the door. We ran down the street in a fit of laughs.

"Can you believe that? I mean, them just busting in on you at a diner? How crazy is that?" he said, out of breath as we neared the park.

"At least you didn't have to practically live with them for seven years. You don't know the crazy shit they're capable of." When we entered the park, we sat down at the nearest bench. We sat there until the sun started to rise.

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Cassie had followed us, and dragged Grant along with her, just to get in one last bit of embarassment out of me. "Okay, Grant, Grant look at me. Look at me." She saw that he was starting to fade, so she took out a pixie stick from her purse. "Now, take this, get naked, and run by that bench okay?"

He stared in aw at her, "Sugar? And Naked? I LOVE YOU!" he sloppily hugged her.

"Whatever, just do it, okay?" he nodded, stripped as Cassie averted her eyes, and took off towards our bench.

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"Great party, huh?" Ryan said, turning his head to look at me.

I smiled and looked over at him. "Yeah, great party." We continued to stare at each other.

All of a sudden, just out of nowhere, Grant runs in front of us, butt naked, screaming in joy, "WHOOOOO!! BEER! GIRLS!"

After he passed, Ryan turned to me, asking, "Is that what you've put up with for seven years?"

I scoffed, "Pretty much. Except that I've seen pretty much everyone on the main cast naked. But they were all drunk." I reassured him.


	30. Chapter 30

"All right, break it up, break it up!" A cop shouted as he and his partner entered the bar. Maryellen and I slowly turned around to find out what the fuck they were screaming about, and why they disrupted our drinking. And because we were the only two concious people in the bar (Grant, the bartender and Brady were all passed out, and everyone else was outside), we thought to acknowledge them.

"Dude, party's over." Maryellen said to them, taking a swig.

"Yeah man, I beat that shit," I motioned over to where Brady was laying quite still. "Like fifteen minutes ago."

"So you started the fight?" The partner said, taking out his pair of handcuffs.

"No, no, no, good sir. He started the fight, I just beat the fuckin shit out of him." I stretched the truth just a little bit.

"So, are you like, Marcashio or whatever the fuck his name is?" The head officer said.

"First of all, his name is Mercutio, and second of all, are you calling me a man, sir?" I was getting a little angry, but my voice didn't show it. It was still in it's monotonous voice.

"So what if I am?" This guy was getting cockier by the second.

I looked over at Mayellen, looking for an answer to my silent question. "No." I continued to look at her. "No."

With a very low and quiet voice, I said, "Please."

"Fine go ahead, like I'm really going to stop you." She didn't hesitate in answering.

I rolled my head over towards the officer, "Look here cock stain, if I were a man, I wouldn't be here and this fight would have never taken place. See, I would be at your house right now, gettin paid by your wife for the good time. And that last thing she was thinking about was your fat ass." He started to charge at me, but stopped when I said, "Ah, ah, ah, that's assault on a by-stander. Now if I'm not mistaken, that's against your rules as a police officer. Isn't it?"

He got right in my face, "Go burn in fucking hell."

I put my face even closer to his, "I'm already there." and then he punched me in the stomach. Having the wind knocked out of me, didn't phase me much. Because I was sitting on a stool, I was in the perfect position to kick him in the loins. And of course, I took that opportunity. So, the fat assed cop was now cradling himself on the floor, wheezing and painfully trying to catch his breath. The next thing that happened didn't really sursprise me, cause I knew it was going to happen one day, but I didn't know that it would be today. For the next thing that happened was the other cop came up behind me, and slapped a pair of handcuffs on my wrists. I then looked over at Maryellen, shrugged my shoulders and was officially escorted out of the bar.

1234567890

When I woke up in the morning, everything was just as I had left it. From all of the food in the refigerator, down to the forks and knifes in their drawer. After I had woken up, I didn't know what else to but to go about my normal routine when I was at Greg's place: breakfast. 2 plates, 2 forks, 2 knifes, 2 bowls of cereal, 2 sausage patties, 2 glasses of orange juice, and one serving of scrambled eggs. After everything was all set, just like it normally was, I sat down at ate it, like I would every other time: cereal, half of orange juice, sausage, other half, clean up. And then I cleaned up Greg's plate, because he wasn't there to eat it. I didn't know what else to do. After a shower, I grabbed my car keys from the coffee table, where they had been sitting for about a month or so now. There was actually a few layers of dust on them. Like routine, after every time I stayed at Greg's place after breakfast, I went to work. I turned on the same radio station, at the same time at the same light, in the same car. Everything was the same. And when I got to the lab, I parked in the same spot. Everything was the same, every day. I grabbed the same bag (that had everything in it) I had been using for years and got out of my car. I walked up to the taped off area where the lab used to be. I ignored the tape, and kept going to the place where the break room used to be, and sat down in the same place I would have if the couch were still there. I don't know how long I sat there, but all of a sudden, I started crying. I couldn't stop myself. And then, flashes of Warrick and Grissom and Hodges and everyone lying in a row outside of the collapsing building; all of them, looking so peaceful, but lifeless. I cried out in agony and pain and full of horrible thoughts about how I should have been able to stop it. I should have been there! I should have been able stop them from doing it. I should have-I should have. I couldn't even complete that thought before I was engulfed in a hug. The first hug I've had in the longest time. I didn't know who it was, but I thanked them by giving them the biggest hug I had ever given anyone before; well, except for the one I gave Greg after I came home, but that was a different story. They let me cry on their shoulder; they let me hug them for so long. They let me find out who they were: Sydney. I should have known. He was mimicking me: sitting across from me, indian style.

"I should've known," I whisper sobbed.

He smirked, but just a little, "You should know by now that I don't leave my patients alone for too long."

"Never will give up on me, will you?"

"Never." He then stood up, and took my hands in his. "Common, it's time."

"Time for what?" I asked as he stood me up.

"Time for you to see them again. You're ready." he took my arm, and led me over to his car. I didn't say anything, for I was a little dumbfounded. But, I decided not to question it; it wasn't healthy. So, he sat me in his car, and we started to drive. I turned on the radio to my normal station, but then changed it to something else. Maybe change was for the better. We didn't speak while he drove to the hospital. And when we entered, Sydney just waved to the nurse at the desk, and moved on. We went into the elevator, and were dropped off at the fifth floor: Intensive Care Unit. As I stood outside their door, I thought, 'okay, it's time to do what's necessary. For Nick.' And I opened the door.


	31. Chapter 31

"So, Glen," I struck up conversation as I was in the police car, now being driven to the station. "How's Dylann?"

"She's good. Just had a little boy a few weeks ago: Alex Ryan. My first nephew..." he trailed off as he glanced over to the other officer to see a furious look.

"Glen, what have I told you about talking to the PRISONERS!?" The fat assed cop told the other in a higher pitched voice.

"To no to." Glen replied in a voice only a whipping boy had.

"Look, good sir," I said to the whipper. "I'm not actually a prisoner. You guys are only taking me to Detective Brass, where my punishment will be determined later."

"No, you're going to jail."

"If good sir would read his criptsay, he would know that he was taking me to Brass." I said to fat ass through clenched teeth.

He reached down under the passenger side seat, grabbed a script, and flipped through until he found where we were. "...bar fight...cock stain...handcuffs...ah, here we are: 'take author captive, put her in vehicular, drive her to lab, punishment to be determined later.' Wow, you were really on script at that last line, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I know, did it sound a little too mapped out?" I worridly asked.

"No. No it sounded great. Now, dirtbag! Don't correct me! I said you were being taken to the lab, you're being taken to the lab! Do you understand me?!" he got right back into character.

"Of course, Janet. Every word." Oh, shit. His face just turned purple. "I didn't mean it, good sir. No I didn't, see, I call everybody Janet." I was seriously trying to keep this guy from coming back here and stangling me. "Hey, hey Janet," I started to pat Glen on the shoulder. "Wanna speed this fucking car up?" I then rolled down the window, and shouted to a pair of school boys standing on a corner. "Hey! Janet! Shut the fuck up! No one wants to hear your sad fucking story about how your fucking dog just fucking died!" The look on that little kid's face will scar me for the rest of my life: it was contorted with anger, fear, and saddness because no one wanted to hear the story about his poor little puppy. "See? Everyone is Janet, good sir. Except you." Holy krum, I thought I would never calm him down. But, unfortunately, we were still about ten minutes away from the Lab, so I still had a pretty good chance of messing everything up. Again. "Hold up, hold up, hold up! Cut! Please, Dear God, Cut!" I shouted opening the door, stepping out, and taking off the fake handcuffs. I walked straight up to the writer, and shouted in his face, "What is with all the 'agains'! I know she's had a bad childhood, really, I understand. But still! Messing up, again!? Everyone messes up! It's a fact in human nature! And every time she betrays someone, why must she say, 'I'm sorry my friend'? I mean, common BATMAN! Think of something original!" It took Sydney, Janet, and Glen to pull me away from the poor writer. Goodness, he looked like that little boy!

"I didn't know you-you-you-" he started to say, but I cut him off.

"Buddy, buddy, buddy, buddy, buddy, buddy," I said, twisting away from Sydney, Janet, and Glen. "I'm just jokin' with ya. I swear I am. I kid, it's what I do. You know this. How long we been working together? Days, months, years? I don't get angry. I kid, I joke, I goof around. I really didn't mean to scare you, buddy. Come here, let's have a hug." I came over to him and pulled the scared looking writer into a hug. "There's a good hug." I pulled him out at arm's length. "You okay?" he nodded. "Good. Alright. Now, just calm down, take a deep breath, sit back and relax. Can't take anything that comes out of my mouth seriously, okay? Alright." I turned to everyone. "Sorry everyone! I really was joking. See, I was thinking of this prank all day, and you know me. I'm sorry. I really am." I apologized.

"Shall we return to the scene?" The director shouted, and everyone returned to their places.

"See? Everyone is Janet, good sir. Except you." I said nervously.

"Whatever. Just shut up till we get to the lab." Janet spat back. And so I did.

After we had stopped and they escorted me out of the car, we saw Maryellen pull up in her car, jump out, and shout at us as she ran into the lab, "Hold on George! I'll be right back with my check book."

Both cops ignored it, and started to walk me to the building. But, as we were climbing up the five steps to get in, the Lab blows up. All I see, is bright red and orange all mixed together, and debris everywhere. I hear screams, and moans. Pain is everywhere. I was pushed not to far from the explosion, but I was now facing down. I picked my head up, and saw that Glen and Janet were now on the left side of me, both looked more horrible than I felt, which was pretty damn bad. I had to get up, otherwise I wouldn't, so, I started to crawl over to where Janet was, and took the keys to the handcuffs out of his hands with my teeth (the only reason the keys were in his hand was so that he could uncuff me when Brass would take me off of their hands). I then, dropped them, and picked them up with my right hand, and unlocked the left cuff.

"Greg!" I called, picking myself up, and stumbling into what was left of the burning building. "Catherine?!" No one answered. So, I kept on going, coughing and wheezing from the amount of smoke. "ANYBODY-" I was cut off by a large piece of the wall, collapsing on me. I was pinned, but I tried my hardest to get out from under it when I saw the most horrible thing that I had ever seen in my entire life: Greg, unconcious under a piece of rubble. "No! NO NO NO NO NO!" I cried, and I struggled, but I couldn't move.

--

I took a deep breath, and opened the door. It was time. The room was dark, for the curtains on the windows were shut, only a few beams of light from outside had made their way in. Everyone was asleep: Greg and Maryellen in their beds, Nick laying in the middle of the room with a pillow, and Catherine in a chair with a blanket covering her. I silently made my way over to Catherine, stepping over Nick, while Sydney took a seat in the corner nearest Maryellen. I gently shook Catherine on the shoulder. "Catherine, Catherine wake up." I whispered, and she slowly opened her eyes. When she saw me, a smile erupted on her face, and tears started to fall as she hugged me.

"Oh, Anita, you didn't run away? Did you?" she whispered, pulling me at arms length.

"Well, I did," she look disappointed at that. "But, I got caught," I nodded over to where Sydney was, and he gave one wave to Catherine.

"So," I kneeled in front of her. "How are you?"

"I'm okay. My mom is taking care of Lindsey, so, she's in good hands. I just want to get out of here." She said, the tears stopping.

"I know. What about them?" I took a quick glance at the others, and looked back at her. "How are they doing?"

"Maryellen still won't wake up. Nick is getting better, mentally. And Greg is also getting better. His injuries are healing quicker than they were before. He's doing fine." She said, seeing me take a longing glance at him.

"Three weeks seemed like three years. I stayed at his apartment last night, and I hugged one of his pillows all night because it reaked of him." I said, practically ready to pour my heart out to Catherine.

"How much do you love him?"

"More than I have ever loved anyone in my entire life. Even Ryan Reynolds; except in _Blade: Trinity_, he was just smexy in that." That made her chuckle.

"Why not tell Greg what you told me?" she said, urging me to go to him.

I put a questioning look on my face, "Ryan Reynolds is smexy?"

She smiled and shook her head, "No. Tell him that you love him." she pushed me in his general direction, and I took the hint.

So, I slowly walked over to Greg, stepping over Nick, and tripped over myself when I finally reached his bed. Thankfully, I caught myself on his bed before I completely fell over. I shook it off, and stared at him: he looked just like he did after the first explosion. "Greg? Greg," I whispered, trying to wake him up. It didn't work. So, I leaned over him, and kissed him, causing his closed eyes to blink in surprise. After I pulled away, only a little bit though, he opened his eyes and happiness and color flooded his face.

"Anita?" he whispered in disbelief, and I nodded and smiled.

"Yeah," I nodded again, and gave him a hug. Not as big as the one I gave Sydney, but still pretty big. "I missed you," I whispered into the closest ear of his.

"I missed you too."

I started to gently stroke his hair, "So, how've you been? You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm healing. Doctor's say I can be realeased soon." He whispered as to not wake up Nick on the floor.

"That's great," I said, and I was happy for him.

"What about you? How are you doing?" He seemed generally concerned.

"I'm okay. Sydney's taking good care of me. Helping me out." I said with a fond look on both of mine and Sydney's faces. "He's been really good."

"He better be." That rose a soft chuckle out of both of us.

"I'm going to go check on Maryellen, okay? I'll be right back." He nodded slightly, and I stepped over Nick, and went over to my twin. I stood at her right by her head, and said, "Maryellen, George, because we're so close, I'm gonna give you a warning: If you don't wake up in the next ten minutes, I'm going to do what's necessary, whether I'm meant to or not."


	32. Chapter 32

**DISCLAIMER: Neither my twin nor I own anything in the story except Anita, Maryellen, Grant, Justin, Carly, Brady, Nathan, Heidi, Janet, the writer, the director, Brosform's, Glen, that little boy who's puppy died, Cerrone, Stella, Janine, John, Jacob, Jingleheimer, and Tyler Schmidt, Jeff, Terra, and Sydney. The rest belongs to CBS, The Fray, Justin Timberlake, National Lampoon, The Beatles, The All American Rejects, Diana Ross, Johnathan Larson, Ryan Reynolds, David S. Goyer, J.K. Rowling, M. Night Shyamalan, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Tom Felton, Wallace Langham, William Peterson, The Blue Oyster Cult,Eric Szmanda, Gary Dourdan, George Eads, Jorja Fox, Marge Hellenberger, Melinda Clarke, Soulja Boy (Whoever the hell that is), the people who own Scrubs, the owner of UB, whoever owns the Frontier Casino Music Hall, Michael Jackson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and whoever in the hell grows Blue Hawiian coffee beans.**

--

I was walking into the hospital, but I didn't realise it. My mind was blank, I couldn't think, I could barely concentrate on anything. Greg was dead, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was wondering in the halls, when an orderly came up to me and asked, "Excuse me, Miss, where are you supposed to be?"

I slowly moved my eyes from the wall that looked just soo interesting to the orderly and said, "Dead. Not here. In the ground. 6 ft under. However you want to put it."

I turned away, but spun back around after the orderly said into a walkie talkie, "Delusional one, floor 3."

"I'm not delusional. More of," I had to think of the right words. "In denile." I raised my eyebrows, and then took his walkie talkie away form him. "The orderly you were just talking to has just passed out. You should probably send help." I said into the walkie talkie. I then turned to the orderly who had a numbed look on his face, and I punched him in the face so hard, he actually did pass out. I then, quickly set him up to look like he only passed out, and tossed the walkie talkie onto his body, and then walked away like nothing happened. Again, no kind of emotion on my face, just wandering aimlessly. I didn't know where I was going until I came by their room. I passed it, but then went back and looked into the top window when I saw the people who were supposed to be dead. I opened the door with eyes huge, and I went up to Catherine who was sitting on a chair next to Greg. "What are you doing here?"

Catherine looked up at me and asked full of worry, "Anita, are you okay?

"No. No, I'm not okay. I'm talking to a dead person, of course I'm not okay!" My voice got that little bit louder.

"Anita," She tried to soothe me. "We're alive-"

"NO!" I cut her off, completely pissed off at the fact that I'm pulling a _Sixth Sense_. "NO, NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! You and-and him," I pointed over to Greg. "Were crushed by the ceiling, and-and Nick, was in another box; and George was somewhere. But, you were all dead like Warrick, and-and Grissom and Hodges!" During this entire crazy spectrum, I was pacing and hyperventilating, and just going nuts.

"Anita, just calm down," She stood up and put her hands on my shoulders that I immediately took off.

"NO! IWILL NOT BE TOLD TO CALM DOWN BY SOMEONE WHO ISN'T REALLY THERE! I'm not crazy! I know I'm not. He wasn't right; I won't let him be right." I was letting silent tears fall now.

"You won't let who be right, Anita?" A stranger said, coming into the room. He was tall with black hair and a catapillar mustache.

"And who are you? The Reaper?" I said incredulously.

"No. I'm Dr. Sydney Messner. I'm a therapist; and your coming with me." He calmly stated.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. I don't trust therapists." I shooted back, pushing past him and out of the room.

"I can't let you leave, unless your leaving with me." he followed me, with Catherine following him.

"Anita, just listen to him! He's a good man!" She pleaded.

"NO! I don't need help! And STOP TALKING TO ME!" I was screaming. I burst out into a run, and ran to the elevator. I closed the door right in their faces, and I curled up in a ball in the farthest corner I could get to. I felt the elevator go down, and stop. I looked up slowly at the person who entered. It was a doctor, not Sydney, but one that looked sincere when he saw me. "Are you okay, Miss? You seem shaken." his voice was sweet and kind. He had dark red hair almost brown, blue eyes and a good looking face.

"I think I'm seeing dead people." I said straightly, him nodding, approvingly. "And I'm being followed by a therapist."

He stood there for a minute, stepping into the elevator with me, and pressed the first floor button. "Huh, well, I would suggest talking to this therapist. If you really are seeing dead people, and the therapist is actually stalking you, why not try talking to 'em." he sat down in front of me. He looked up at the buttons, and reached up and hit the STOP button.

"Because I hate people. In general, they are selfish, greedy, narsistic bastards who can only think of themselves and how much money they can make." I said to him in a monotonous voice.

"Huh," he seemed stumped. "Well, in some cases, you have a point. But not everyone is like that. That's why you have to learn to trust people so you can get to know them."

"So, your saying that I should talk to the therapist." I asked, with a trying-to-understand-your-logic look.

"I would suggest it." he said, nodding and then hitting the first floor button again.

"What's your name, Sally?" Maybe I could scare him away by letting out my inner Dr. Cox. When he didn't answer, I asked, "You sure?" I hoped that he was only joking.

He nodded again, "Pretty darn."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. I'll talk to him."

He stood up, and helped me up. "There's a good lass. Hey, let me get you a coffee, huh? What do ya say?"

I smile slightly, "Okay." So, he started to lead me to the cafeteria. But we didn't get too far before Sydne caught up with us. "Okay, Sydney," I started, with the help of a push from the doctor. "You win." I walked over to him, and he nodded.

"Common, if we leave now, we can get there before morning." I nodded, and started to follow him out.

"Bye," I said, turning back for a second, and looking at the doctor.

"Good bye." he said in return. I turned around again, and followed Sydney out.

--

I took a deep breath, and ambled over to Nick. I kneeled next to him, and gently shook him awake. "Nick, Nick." I whispered. He slowly opened his eyes, and looked at me with a knowing, sad, distraught, horrid look. "It's time. Common, get up." I stood up, and pulled him off the floor.

"Please, let's wait a little longer. There's still time-" he pleaded, but I shook my head solemnly.

"Nick, it's not going to get any better. She's not. Now I'm going to do what you asked me to. And if you need to leave the room, go ahead; but I just wanted to tell you that I'm doing it."

He nodded, and left the room.

"Anita, what are you doing?" Sydney asked, as I picked up my backpack which I had set down by him.

"What's necessary," I looked up at him. "My friend."

Suddenly, his eyes went wide: he knew what 'my friend' meant. "Anita. What are you planning to do?"

"What's necessary, Sydney. Maryellen's not going to get any better. They're going to have to pull the plug. Better me than them though. And I won't leave any trace." He was looking at me like I was the craziest person.

"Anita, she still does have a chance-" I cut him off.

"No, Sydney that's where you're wrong. See, I know that she's brain dead, I do. And do you know why I do? Because of these," I pulled out the files and I showed them to him. "These are the complete biographies of the entire Lab. Full biographies; that includes past, present, and future. Their lives are completely mapped out already. They can't make choices, because their choices are already down on these few peices of paper. And I don't care what Sally might say to you, but she's completely dead inside." I was now very tense and right in Sydney's face.

"Sally?" he questioned.

"Yeah, you know, Sally. That doctor like three weeks ago, convinced me to actually try and talk to you." he was blank faced. "Ah, common, you don't remember?" he shook his head. "Red hair, almost brown, blue eyes?" It finally dawned on him.

"Oh! You mean Dr. Ryan Michaels."

I shrugged my shoulders and nodded, "Sally. But, whatever. I don't care what you think, or what Sally thinks, but I'm going to help my best friend, my twin."

He started to retailiate, but Catherine stopped him, "Sydney, just let her do it. It's," she prepared herself with a deep breath. "It's what she has to do."

He slowly nodded, "Okay then."

"Alright," I said, calming my self down. "Now give me a pen," he took one out of his shirt pocket. I took it, and sat down on the chair next to him. I filed through the thirty or so manilla folders, and pulled out Notlef, Maryellen. I clicked the pen, and went to the last page of her huge packet.

_Maryellen suffered severe head injuries, concusions, and her heart was damaged by a broken rib, and is now causing her body to fail by eternal bleeding. A suitable transplant was found, and her heart was replaced. But, the concusions had killed her brain; she had become a human vegetable. Sixty years later, she died of old age, never having been moved. _I then crossed out the last three sentences so that it was now just a great giant blob of green ink. I then wrote down, in the neatest writing I could: _On the day that Anita and Sydney arrived at the hospital, Maryellen's brain completely shut her body down at 10: 42 am. It was peaceful; she felt no pain._ I closed the folder, and started taking deep breathes to stop myself from crying.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Greg slowly sit up in his bed, swing his legs over the side, and limp on one foot over to my chair. "Anita, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Greg. Just get back to bed." I cried, a tearing up uncontrollably.

"No, you're not fine! Look, you're close tears." he gave me a hug, leaning on me for some support.

"Greg," I started, hugging him back. "Get back to your bed, and fall asleep within the next ten minutes. Please? For me?" I pleaded with him.

"Only if you come with me." He broke the hug, and grabbed my hand.

I nodded at the look he gave me: it was sad, pleading, and just so Greg like. "I'll go with you."

"And you'll stay?"

"Yeah, I'll stay with you. Just promise me one thing," I looked from his hands to his eyes and he nodded. "That you will try your best to fall asleep as soon as you get into that bed."

I don't think he quite understood why I wanted him to fall asleep, but he agreed. "Okay. I'll try."

"Promise?"

He nodded. "Promise."

I nodded back, stood up, and acted as his third leg back over to his bed. I sat him down then laid him down. After I made sure he was comfortable, I grabbed one of his hands and said, "Sydney," I said to the older man. "Could you take Catherine and find Nick, and get him a coffee or something? Just keep him away from here."

"Yeah," he replied in a gruff and sad voice. "I can do that." He then stood up, motioned for Catherine to come with him, and opened the door.

"And Sydney," I turned to the man who looked even older than before. "If you see Sally, tell him to lock the door, make sure no one comes in. Do you understand?" Finally a single tear escaped, and I believe that that, was what made Sydney agree; for he had never ever seen anyone as passionate about helping someone as I was.

"Okay. I'll tell him." he nodded, and led Catherine out the door, leaving Greg, Maryellen and I alone.

After a minute of me staring at the door, I heard Greg pat his bed. "Come here," I obeyed, and laid down on the bed next to him. "Are you okay to do this? There's still time-" he grabbed my hand.

I turned my head to face him, "It has to be done. And better me than anyone else."

"You're right."

"I don't want you to hear it, Greg."

He angled his head slightly. "Hear what?"

"The long melancholy beep."

His grip on my hand tightened, "I would rather hear it knowing it wasn't you, than having you being supposedly miles away, and just hoping it's not you."

I smiled, but only slightly. "I love you, Greg."

"I love you, too."

And there it was. The disconsolate, lachrymose, downhearted, lugubrious, pensiveness, grim beep that was to tell us of the death of my twin. It tore me up inside, and I wanted to call out to a doctor, any doctor. But I knew that it was better off for her, if everything was over.

Greg and I just laid there, listening. After a while, I turned over so that I was completely facing him. "It was the right thing to do, right?"

"Yeah, it was. She was gonna die sooner or later. You had to make a call, I would've made the same one."

"Yeah?"

He nodded, "Yes."

And for no reason at all, _How To Save A Life_ just pops into my head and _Scrubs_ 520 was fastfowarding in my brain. And I wanted to smile at the similarity of conversation between Greg and I and JD and Coxy. But I couldn't, for my thoughts were interrupted by someone slamming the door open and making an entrance.

"Have no fear. Grissom, is here!" Gil shouted from the doorway in a fake Inigo Montoya accent.

At the same time, both I and Maryellen sat straight up in our beds, looked at Grissom, and started shouting, "WHAT?!" We looked at eachother, "WHAT?!" Then back at Grissom, "WHAT?!"

"How are you still alive!" I questioned the both of them.

"I was dead?" Maryellen pouted.

"Very simple," Grissom started, getting into, well, Grissom mode. "Two words: Witness Protection."

"Now hold up, Cassie," I said while we were sitting on the bus to school. "Doesn't that sound a little too far-fetched. I mean, no one's going to believe it."

"But that's the thing, Andi," She defended. "No one would expect it to happen. And plus, it's us; it's sounds like something we would do."

"True, but I just don't know-" And Cassie being Cassie, she cut me off and shoved an earbud into my ear.

"Oo! _Sexy Back_." she said, and then we started dancing out to our favorite song as we forgot what we were arguing about, and finished our unGodly early moring ride to school.

#

Both Cassandra and Andrea thank you for taking time out of your busy day when you probably should have been feeding your cat or doing something important to read our story. We dedicate this story to our 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Sperry. She was the coolest teacher.


	33. Epilogue

So, it turned out that Maryellen wasn't really dead. And Nick got a latte. He was quite grateful when he came back to see her and I arguing like we always were. After they were both finished with physical therapy, and just normal therapy, things went back to almost normal for them. And, Nick finally had his baby! After like, seven years of pregnancy, Nick finally gave birth to a boy named Johnathan Montgomery. Jeez, that kid is going to get so beat up in school. They were both reassigned to a lab just outside of Vegas while a new one was built. After it was finished, the both of them went back to their normal lives with their normal jobs.

Gissom stuck with the whole 'witness protection program' thing. Lady Heather, loving Grissom as much as she does, joins Grissom, and they both live happily ever after in a cottage somewhere in the woods of Oregon under the name of Orion and Joyce Galen. They have two children, Christopher James and Jennifer Rose.

Sydney turned out great. He finally got off his ass and asked Terra out. And of course, being completely in love with him, said yes. Six months later, they got engaged, and married a year after that. Sydney kept listening to people, just in an office closer to their new house. They ended up with three great kids: Charles Benjamin, Sherman Walter, Henry Francis.

Catherine got back into the swing of things. With Warrick -tear- dead, both she and Lindsey had to get used to being alone again. But, she did have help from the rest of us. Greg, Maryellen, Nick and I all helped her with getting the groceries, making sure Lindsey was always being looked after, and keeping the house tidy when she was too tired to do it herself. And we would take her out, bowling, to the movies, just giving her company. She ended up fine though, especially when she found out when she was at the hospital those three weeks, that she was preggers with Warrick's kid. We helped her out with that too: like getting the nursery ready, getting all food and diapers. It was hell until Warrick Akila jr was born. And don't worry, we helped out with him too. The little bugger he was.

Greg and I lived happily ever after. He went back to work; I took the exam and passed. I replaced a lab rat, and kept my old job with Grant (who was not in the explosion, he was still passed out in the bar). We eventually moved in together. But the thing was, we never married. We tried once, but the planning took up too much of the time we didn't have. We did have twins though: Matthew Joshua and Virgil Sarge. I was able to take maternity leave from the lab, and still keep my job with Grant. They turned out fine.

And that little boy got a new puppy.

The end.


	34. Epilogue pt 2

"Oh Sydney! It's so great to see you!" I hugged the older man tightly. He hugged me back. When we pulled back, we only let each other go at arms length. "How're the boys? Terra?"

"They're fine. And how are you? And Greg? And the boys?" He patted my arm and led me into his office. We took our normal seats: Him in the chair, me on the couch.

"They're great. The boys can't wait to see you." We were both smiling so big.

"How long has it been since our last appointment? Nine years?"

I nodded. "Why did we wait so long?"

He shook his head. "I don't know." We sat in silence for a minute. "Hey, when are the boys coming over? You know I can't wait to see my God-kids."

"You know I can't wait to see mine! How are the dickens anyway?" I asked him.

He sighed with a smile on his face. "They're doing great. Charles just turned eight, and Sherman turns six in two months. Henry turned four in March."

I relaxed on the couch. "Well my boys are coming in about an hour. What about yours?"

He looked at his watch, "About twenty minutes." He looked at me like he did back when I was at the institution. "So, how have you been?"

"Okay. Job's great, boys are doing good in school, Greg and I are happy." I sighed. I hated being Johnny Raincloud. "My life is too perfect."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that my life has never gone this smoothly without something totally bad happening."

"You know, life changes." Sydney said. Great, I'm back on the couch.

"Not my life. It's written in stone. Well, ink." Sydney smirked.

He took a minute to respond. "Have you ever looked yours?"

I shook my head. "No. No one else's either. I just, I don't want anything to happen to my boys. You obviously know who they are."

"Why don't you tell me."

"Well, there's Greg, my...other; Virgil and Matthew, my kids; Justin, my brother; and you, my very good friend. And Maryellen, Nick and Catherine and her kids, I just-don't want anything to happen to the world. Everything is perfect just the way it is."

He just stared at me. After a while, he said, "Why don't we make another appointment?"

"Okay." I nodded slowly. "When?"

"I'll call you." Just then, there was a knock on the door. I sat up straight, and Sydney called, "Come in!"

Terra came in with three kids following her. "Hey honey," She said as she hugged him. Then she looked at me. "Hello Anita, how are you today?"

"I'm fine Terra, and yourself?" I asked, looking at the boys.

"Oh, I'm great. Boys," she called them. They were still standing by the door. "Boys I would like to introduce you to..." She left the name hanging.

"Anita. I'm your Aunt." It felt so weird to be saying that. I mean, they weren't really my nephews. But it didn't look like Justin was having kids anytime soon. He's practically married to the army.

"How come we've never met you?" The taller one, whom I assumed was Charles, said.

Sydney answered for me. "That's because we've never had a family reunion. But that is exactly what today is." Charles looked confused while both Sherman and Henry just decided to accept the fact that I was their 'Aunt', and hug me. "You see Charles, she used to live in New York," Okay, not a very big lie; I did live in New York...when I went to college. "which is on the other side of the country. She couldn't come to all the reunions on a whim. So we talked, and we set up a date where she could come down with your Uncle and cousins for the weekend. And that is what this weekend is."

Being naïve, Charles bought it. "Cool! When are my cousins coming?"

"In a little bit. Now why don't you go hug your Aunt." He said in a low whisper. Charles nodded and ran to embrace me. I caught him, hugged him tightly.

"My goodness Charles, you've gotten so big." I let him go. "Why don't you go play with your brothers while my crew arrives." He nodded and ran off after Sherman and Henry who had run to their play room. I watched him run off and sighed. "Sydney," I said getting up off of the couch and sat down on the floor in front of his chair. "I'm scared."

He cocked his head, "What for?"

"I'm scared that if something happens, I'm going to go into a place so deep, that I won't be able to come back." My eyes started to tear up.

"Hey, hey, hey," He slid off of his chair, sat down beside me and put an arm around my shoulders. "I will always be there to bring you back from whatever funk you're in. I promise." He gave me a look that said he'd do anything to keep that promise.

Terra looked in on us from the kitchen door jam. She saw both Sydney and me on the floor, he was now hugging me. She saw my shoulders start to shake, and decided to leave us alone. After she retreated back into the kitchen, she started to prepare the roast beef dinner for tonight. 'Maybe she isn't as sane as I thought. But then again, none of us are.'

--

After Greg and the kids came everything was fine. Least that's the way it looked. Which is all that mattered. The boys had a great time playing on the newest video game consul while us adults had a good time talking about old times. At six that night, my cell phone started to ring. I excused myself and went into the kitchen where the roast beef was taking a last few minutes of cooking before it's served. I looked at my caller id: it was no one I knew.

I answered, "Hello?"

"Anita Strain?" A male voice asked.

"Depends on who's asking."

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Alan Trapper. I'm the head of General Justin Strain's outfit."

Oh, great. The army again. "And?"

"Ma'am, yesterday our camp was attacked, and General Strain was hit by an enemy sniper."

My heart just stopped. "Is he dead?" My voice was stern enough to hide the fact that I was going into a mental breakdown.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Do you have the body this time?"

"Yes, ma'am."

At least I knew he was dead...officially. "Send the body to the Las Vegas Crime Lab immediately."

"Why?"

"Because I work there."

That threw him for a very tiny loop. "Ma'am, I will send my best two soldiers-"

"No." I cut him off.

"No?"

"I do not want any soldiers up here. I don't want to frighten my family."

I couldn't see him, but I think he nodded. "I understand. I will send the body as soon as I get the chance." I was just about to hang up when he said. "Ma'am, I would like to be there for the funeral."

"Fine. Just don't come until I send you a date."

"Understood. I am very sorry. Justin was a good friend of mine."

I was quiet for a second. "Me too."

"Goodbye, Miss Strain."

"Goodbye, Mr. Trapper."

"Please, call me Alan."

"Goodbye, Alan." I hung up. Apparently, I had lowered myself onto the floor. Once again my entire world collapsed. And yet again, I wasn't crying. I hit the back of my head against the wall in frustration. I needed Maryellen. But her and Stupid Face had gone to Poland for a week. I hit my head again. "I have to get out of here." I whispered. I looked around the kitchen for a back door. And what do you know, there was one. I left through it as quietly as I could. And then, I took my car and started driving. I didn't have any particular destination, but just driving helped. After I had been driving for about an hour, somehow I ended up at the Institution. I sat in my car, just looking at it for a few minutes before I went in. The few patients that were left in the main room didn't mind my just walking through the door, but the Attending did.

An older man with curly red hair, bright blue eyes, and skin the color of coffee with a dash of cream came up to me. "Can I help you, miss."

I shook my head. "No." I looked at him once, but then I turned my eyes to the hallway. "I know exactly where I'm going. Room 114." And then I walked past him. He of course, followed me.

"Miss! Miss! You can't just go into a room," I turned around and looked at him with hollowed eyes. There was nothing in them. "You have to sign in with id, and an appropriate description of the person you're seeing." He held out a clipboard with a pen.

"Take that clipboard, and shove it up your ass." I opened the door to room 114, walked in, and shut it in his face. He started knocking on the door, but I just locked it in response. He started shouting at me to open the door, but I grabbed the 'dining room' chair that was in the bathroom for some reason, and shoved it underneath the doorknob. There wasn't anyone in the room but me. This room was in the 'extremely fragile people's' hallway of the Institution. I relaxed on the couch like I would have done any other day, and I listened to the man threatening me to open the door or else. For some time, I just didn't think. I kept my mind completely blank and just laid there and stared up at the ceiling.

--

_6:34 pm_

"Oh, my God," Greg stumbled into the kitchen full of laughter. "Anita, you have got to hear this joke that Syd-" No one was there. "Anita?" He glanced around the kitchen, then looked out the windows to the backyard. Still no one. "Boys!" Greg called, and all five boys came rushing down the stairs from the kitchen to the playroom. The staircase was basically a partition that separated the kitchen and the living room.

"Yes?" Virgil and Matthew said together.

"Have you seen your mother?" they both shook their heads. He then turned to the Messner children. "What about you three? Have you seen your Aunt?" Charles and Henry shook their heads, but Sherman nodded. "Where is she?"

"I-I saw h-her get-ting into her car, a-a-and driving away." Don't know why he stuttered. Maybe it was the tiny bit angry look on Greg's face. And poor little Sherman didn't want to get into trouble.

"Sydney!" He shouted. After Sydney came into the kitchen, his smile faded when he saw Greg.

"What's wrong?" He asked worriedly.

"Anita drove off."

"What?!" Sydney exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know."

"What could have set it off?" Sydney asked.

"I don't know." They thought for just a second before it hit Greg. "The phone call! What if something happened, and the phone call upset her?"

Sydney's eyes went wide. "Oh, God. We have to find her right away." He started rushing through the house, like he was searching for something.

Greg didn't quite get why it was so urgent. "Why right away?"

"Because if I don't get to her soon, she's never going to get out of the darkness."

"Huh?"

"Oh! Never mind! Just get into your car, and search places she might be. Like the Lab, your house, Maryellen's house, Catherine's house...etc. I'm gonna search any parks, diners, or casinos she might be in. If one of us finds her, call the other on their cell phone. Greg there is something you must understand." He lowered his voice and stood closer to Greg. "Anita has a fragile mindset. She thinks that her world is too perfect. She thinks that if something happened to anyone; even if it's the smallest thing, that her entire world is going to collapse. This one thing could have thrown her head over a cliff for good. I **need **to get to her as soon as possible." Greg nodded like a good soldier. "Terra, sweetheart." He said as he stalked back into the living room. "Can you hold down the fort while Greg and I are out?" She nodded. "I need you to call ahead to the Institute to tell them that I'm coming. If Anita is anywhere, she's going to be there." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and ran out the door with Greg following closely behind him.

--

I can't believe after a while of me not responding, the Attending still wouldn't leave me alone. After the hundredth time of him banging on the door and threatening to press charges for pulling a B&E, I finally got fed up and shouted at him, "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" Amazingly, he was quiet for a while. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. I opened it and hit speed dial #1. It rang like it should have, but a robot operator started saying how the number I was trying to call was out of my service's reach. "Fucking Poland." I threw the phone at the wall, releasing just a fraction of all the anger. When the phone made contact with the wall, it pretty much broke in half. I sighed as I got up and sat down next to the door. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I started thinking about Justin, and I started getting all of these angry, sad, infuriation emotions. There were so many, that I doubted I would ever get them out. The darkness consumed me.

--

Sydney walked into the Institution like he owned the place. When the dumb ass orderly at the desk asked for his id, he pulled out his wallet and flashed his id like a police dudsie. Brownie point for him. He started for my room, and when he saw the black ginger yelling at my door, well, you could say he got a tad bit angry.

He walked right up to the ginger, grabbed the scruff of his neck, and dragged him away from the door. "Don't you dare yell at her again." Sydney's voice was so full of anger, it didn't even sound like him.

But the Attending didn't care and said for one more time, "MISS! If you don't come out this instant! I will call the police!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" I shouted at him. Sydney smirked a little, but quickly wiped it away.

"If you don't recall, I was the Attending just a few short years ago. Look, she's my patient from those few years ago, just let me talk to her and I'll get her out of here."

"Look Gramps," Gramps? "You might have run the place like a hundred years ago, but now I do. Now, I don't care if you saved the human race with her. She has barricaded herself in a room on private property, and I'm going to call the police whether you like it or not." Ginger started to walk away, but Sydney grabbed Ginger's collar and brought his face up to his mustache.

"If you even call your grandmother, I will personally make sure that the only place where you can get a job is in Antarctica. Do I make myself clear, Abigail?" Sydney said through clenched teeth. Girls name, another brownie point. When Abby didn't reply, Sydney let him go, and punched him in the face. After the Attending ran away from the 'big bad wolf', Sydney lightly knocked on the door. "Anita?" All of his angry emotions had faded away. "Anita please open the door, it's Sydney."

--

Then, I saw a light. It was Sydney's voice. He found me? Already? "Sydney?" I asked in a small child's voice.

"Yeah, it's me. I just want to talk." I didn't get up when I knocked the chair over and reached up and unlocked the door. Sydney gently opened the door, and closed it behind him. He then sat down next to me and waited for me to speak. When I didn't say a word, he said, "What happened?"

I rolled my head to stare at him with angry eyes. "The army." I said full of hate.

"What did the army do?" he pulled me into a hug that was just so comforting.

I didn't answer him. I just shook my head in his chest and started crying. He started rubbing my back and rocking back and forth gently.

"Please...Honeybunches. What did the army do?" He said softly.

"They sent him away!" I sobbed.

"Who? Who did they send away?"

"Justin! They sent him to Afghanistan three months ago!"

"And what happened to him?" He knew what happened. It was easy enough to figure out. But he wanted me to admit it.

"He got shot! And they couldn't save him! They couldn't save him." I continued to let out everything. Every single emotion that I had after the phone call was being let go. Sydney stayed with me for hours, just hugging me or letting cry on his shoulder. Of course, Sydney has a shoulder big enough for the world to cry on. After a long time, and the tears had submitted, we started to talk again.

"How do you feel now?" He asked as we continued to sit on the floor.

"Angry, upset, frustrated, depressed, tired, beaten, weak. I don't know what I'm going to do without him Sydney. Whenever I needed him, he was always there. Whenever he needed me, I made the trip to see him. Always."

After a second of Sydney thinking, he stood up. Then he grabbed my arms and lifted me from the ground. With confusion written all over me, he dragged me to his car. "Where are we going?" I asked him as he floored it to the highway. Was he heading towards the airport?

"Correction, you are going."

I decided to play along. "...Okay, where am I going?"

"Poland."

"And who's paying for Poland?"

It took him a minute or two to answer, but he said painfully, "I am."

"And may I ask why."

Again, he had trouble getting it out. "Well, you're my patient, and I care about what happens to you. And as your therapist, I am willing to do whatever is necessary to get you better." I gave him a look that said, 'cut the shit'. "And you're like my BFF, and I worry about you."

"Oh, that's so sweet, babe."

"I mean every word of it, honeybunches." Amazingly, we didn't get pulled over for doing like fifteen over the speed limit. And we got to the airport like uber fast. He got me on the soonest possible flight to Poland.

"Dude, I don't have any other clothes! What am I going to wear tomorrow?" I complained as he tried to push me through security.

"I don't know. But that's the excitement of adventure! Now go!" He gave one final push, and I tripped through the metal detector.

--

"What the fuck did you do now?" George exclaimed as she met me coming off of the airplane.

"Apparently you're therapeutic." I shrugged my shoulders.

"So what the fuck is wrong? All I know is that Sydney woke me up at 4 in the morning to pick your ass up."

"It's 4 in the morning?" I questioned as we started to walk towards the general area of the exit.

"Yes, now tell me what the fuck is wrong." She was upset.

"What were you having sex or something?" She gave me such a dirty look that definitely said she was. "Oh, sorry." I really wasn't. But she didn't have to know that.

"So what is the matter with you?"

My eyes went slightly glassy, and she saw it. "I'll tell you in the car." My voice was just above a whisper. And she didn't ask anymore questions. After the ten minutes of pushing through people and searching for the car in the ramp, we finally got in.

"So what's up Fred?" She was less angry, more sincere.

"Justin died. Officially. He was shot by a sniper in Afghanistan." She didn't have a response. She didn't even look at me when she started the car, and drove to the Hotel that her and Nick were staying at (Johnny was at Stupid face's parent's house in Texas). When we got to the front desk, Maryellen started to talk to the clerk about adding another person to their suit, when I immediately jumped in to save myself. "I'm not staying in the same room as Stupid face." Her look said, 'Excuse me?' real snotty like. "Dude, I am not going to listen to **anything**that might be happening at 4 in the morning!" I said through gritted teeth. "Just give me the cheapest room you have. For one, please." I told the clerk, then he started to search through their databases, and he came up with something.

"I have a room on the first floor."

"I'll take it." I pulled out my wallet from my back pocket and handed him my debit card.

"And how long will you be staying with us, Mrs. Burns?" he read my name on the card. I wasn't going to correct him. I was too tired.

"Five days." He nodded, and completed the transaction. "Here are the keys to room 119. Thank you, and enjoy your stay."

I nodded back to him, and we both left the front desk. "Wake me up in a few hours. I will see you later." I started to turn down the hallway that led to my room, but Maryellen grabbed my shoulder and turned me around.

"Aren't we going to talk or something? I mean, you just don't come into the middle of my vacation to not tell me what's wrong!" She was getting a little hysterical.

"Dudsie," I put my hands on her shoulders, and said calmly, "I will tell you everything later today. But right now, I just want to get some sleep. Okay?" She nodded. So, I went off on my merry little way, and she went back up to Nick-in-a-box. As soon as I hit my bed, I went straight to sleep. And the good thing was: I didn't have a single dream that entire night.

--

Those five days went by uber fast. On the first day, both Maryellen and I went out and did the crazy shit that we used to do back in High School. And that consisted of going crazy, playing pranks on people, hugging random people, and dying our hair. Her dark brown hair was now bright red. Like Coca-Cola red. I didn't do anything that dramatic, just a spot of bright green. My bangs which were long enough to be tucked behind my ears, were dyed minty green. And to tell the truth, it didn't look that bad. It actually looked really good. The rest of the time, we were hanging with Nick, going to lunch, watching movies, and wondering around aimlessly. I never did tell her everything. It just slipped our minds. Although, Justin was the only thing on my mind the entire plane ride home. I didn't want to go home. Doc Ricci should have his body by now. I was going to have to claim him, make arrangements, call his army buddies, and just take care of everything that could possibly be taken care of. It was a lot to think about. I didn't sleep or talk the whole way. I just stared out the window while Maryellen and Nick were snoozing across the aisle. God I hate flying.

--

Greg was waiting very anxiously at the exit gate. He wanted to make sure that I was okay. Every time I went through a mental break down in the old Lab, he was there. "Are you sure this is the right gate?" he asked Sydney who was standing next to him.

"Yes. Now just take it easy, Greg. Her plane just landed." He said reassuringly to see younger man. But not much younger, like a year or two. Three at the most.

When the plane landed, and we were allowed off, the first person I looked for was Greg.

Greg watched as the passengers filed out and ran to their families. He searched for me, and couldn't find me for a minute. But he was looking for short and brown hair, not short and green/brown hair. When I found him, I ran to him. And when I got a tad closer, he recognized me, and started for me as well. We hugged each other tightly, and I didn't want to let go.

But when I did, I immediately asked, "Where's Virgil and Matthew?"

"With Terra and Syd's kids." He smirked at his Dr Seuss moment. "I love the hair by the way." he said, taking the green hair from behind my ear. "How are you? You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just had to get my mind off of things, you know. I'll be fine."

He looked at me like he did the first day that he met Nathan. "Does this mean you won't need me every time your sad?" He put a small pout on his face.

"Of course I'll need you." I said to him. "In fact, I need so much, that I wanna marry you."

He seemed a little surprised. "Marry me? We tried that once, remember?"

"I know, but I want to try again. And this time, I'm going to make that it will happen. I don't care how many people it takes, but I will threaten everyone in the world if I have to."

He smirked again. "For some reason, I don't doubt you on that." And he kissed me.

"Eww." Maryellen said behind us.

I didn't let go of Greg, but I turned my head and said to her. "Shut up, George."

--

Eight Months Later

Greg and I were sitting on the couch in Maryellen's house, waiting for her and Nick to come back to the living room with the drinks. After waiting for a while, Greg laced his fingers with mine, and just stared at my hand. And he smiled. I still wore his ring. He turned our hands over to show me his hand. He still wore my ring. I smiled, and laid my head on his shoulder.

A minute or two later, they came back in with smiles on their faces. "Sorry it took so long," Nick apologized. "Johnny just came home from school, and he passed his first test."

I snapped and pointed at Nick. "That reminds me! Nicky, I know it's a little late, but...you pass." When Maryellen heard that he passed, she burst out laughing. Nick and Greg were both so confused. So I explained it simply to them. "Nick, do you remember that time when Maryellen was all up in my office, and was like, 'Bitch don't touch my hubbie'?"

He nodded slightly. "Vaguely."

"Well, me and George have been BFF's since...forever. And she wanted to know, if I approved of you. So, she set up that little fight, because she wanted to see what you would do. You obviously followed her wishes, and avoided me. I also did a little snooping, and I approve. You passed our little test."

"Well thanks. After like, eleven years of marriage." He chuckled. Maryellen was still laughing.

"I know, right?"

Then, Greg got a tiny bit concerned look on his face. "Honey, who's watching the children?"

"Virgil and Matthew are staying after school today." I looked at him.

"Oh, what for?"

"Well, Virgil is staying for football, and Matthew has Library Club today. We have to pick them up when we leave."

"Oh, okay."

Awkward silence. "So, I see the green still hasn't gone away." Maryellen observed.

"I know, but I like it. We actually planned the wedding around the green." I blushed a little.

"I've seen her in her dress, and she looks beautiful!" Maryellen practically squealed.

"Thank you." I blushed again.

"So how're you holding up?" Nick asked quieter than normal.

"I'm fine. It's been about 7 ½ months. I'm okay."

"You know, we're going to have the picture up." Greg said, just making sure that it was okay.

"Yes, I know. And it'll be fine. I'll be fine." I gave him a smile. Then gave one to both George and Nick.

"I am so proud of you honey." He pulled me closer to him and kissed my temple.

"Me too. Me too." I said, taking a breath and looking at the best people I had ever met.


	35. Epilogue pt 3

"Come on," I whispered to Greg.

He nodded and started to lead me and two multicolored sheep through the lab. We almost maneuvered our way completely but Nick hindered us.

"What are you doing?"

Greg and I looked at each other and then back at Nick. "It's a surprise. Do you wanna help?"

He shrugged, it was a slow day, "Sure, why not."

"Where's George?" I asked.

"With Catherine at a scene."

Greg smirked. "Good. Can you get another sheep from the garage?"

"Any specific one?"

"Either Philip or Phoebe, we've already got Harvey and Atticus."

"Got it!" Nick hurried off to the garage as Greg and I put our two sheep in the right places. About five minutes later, Stupid face came out with both Philip and Phoebe.

All three of us took turns: Greg got Yolanda, I got Belinda, Nick got Isiaha, Greg shuffled out Robert, I took out Thomas and Hector, Nick carried David, Greg got Andrew, I got Yoda, Nick carried off Meghan, Greg commandeered Alexander and Robin, I selected Yoshi and Erin, Nick took out Laura and Laverne, and last but not least, Greg carried Eddie and Napoleon out to the parking lot and set them up with the others.

Twenty-two sheep in total. All personalized and ready for Greg and mine's surprise.

* * *

A half hour later, Maryellen and Catherine dragged themselves into the breakroom. They were not in the mood for anything.

"How's Lindsey and Rick?" She asked Catherine.

"Fine. Lindsey is going to Indiana for her first teaching job. And Rick is excited about starting football." She smiled at the thought of her children.

"That's great. That's really great."

Just then, Greg, Nick, and I showed up in the doorway. "Hey George, we got a surprise for you."

"Not now Fred, Maryellen's tired." George answered me.

"All I want is two minutes." My smiled made her suspicious, but she eventually got up. We pulled her and Catherine out to the back parking lot.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARYELLEN!" Greg, Nick and I shouted.

She didn't show any emotion but confusion. "Sheep?" She asked all three of us. "You spelled Happy Birthday Maryellen on the backs of sheep. Why?"

Greg answered. "Why not?"

"...Because it's a herd of sheep!"

"They're blue sheep with pink letters! That's just screams awesome." Nicky tried to reason with her.

Maryellen shook her head. "I just don't see how."

All four of our mouths dropped. "Who are you and what have you done with our Maryellen?"

George's face became as still as stone and she looked us over, almost as if she were deciding whether or not to tell us the truth. And then, "PSYCHE!" She shouted and started laughing. "You should've seen your faces." she was practically hysterical.

"That wasn't nice! Do you know how long it took the three of us to get all of those sheep lined up like that?!"

"Three fucking hours." Nick said through clenched teeth at Greg.

"You're the one who wanted to be part of the surprise." Greg held up his hands.

"You are so dead, Greg." Nick went to punch him, but I stepped between them.

"Don't you be touchin' my hubbie." I said all quick and ghetto-like.

Nick leaned over and looked me straight in the eye. "I will pick you up and move you."

It was Greg's turn to step between us. "Don't you be touchin' my wife." He imitated me. And then he smirked. "Wife." He turned and looked at me.

"Yeah," I leaned into him and he held me tight. It was nice to be known as a wife.

"Uh," Maryellen interrupted us. "Is this the whole surprise?"

"No, Rich," I turned back to Greg. "tell her what she's won."

"Well Bob, she's won a brand new car!"

Her eyes widened with excitement. "Seriously?"

"No." Her face fell. "But you did win...a new puppy!" Out of nowhere, Johnny came into view holding a baby Siberian Husky with bright blue eyes.

"Why can't I have a puppy?" I asked Greg in hushed tones.

"Let's not go into this now." He said, trying not to fight.

"You know I've always wanted one."

"Well it's not your birthday."

"It was eleven days ago!"

"Guys-" Nick tried to intervene.

"Anita, please..."

"I have always wanted a puppy!"

"Guys?" Maryellen tried, and failed.

"Maybe I just don't want a puppy! Ever thought of that?" Greg yelled at me.

"How could you not want a puppy? They're so cute!"

"They're expensive!"

"Oh, come on!"

"Bye." Maryellen said to us as her, Nick, Catherine, Johnny and the new puppy left for the lab. "Y'all are giving me a frickin' migraine." Then her eyes widened in fear. "Oh my God, I'm turning into her."


End file.
